Chronicles of the Chosen Three: Unholy Triforce
by Seldavia
Summary: Why is the most sacred icon in Hyrule's history seen as a curse mark? Why is Princess Zelda being held in a tower by her uncle and forbidden from practicing magic? What will happen when two other Bearers come to the castle, asking dangerous questions?
1. Prologue

"I wish to remember nothing," Ganondorf stated firmly as Midna, Link, and Zelda entered the room.

"Are you sure?" Din asked with a teasing lilt in her voice. "This is the first time since the Awakening that you would enter the world of the living with no prior memories."

His hands balled into fists, and his voice trembled as he fought to keep his tone civil. "I already told you. I wish to remember nothing. There are no memories I want to bring with me into the next lifetime. I wish…to rest…"

"Sister…" Naryu addressed Din.

Din held up her hand. "Very well then." She motioned toward the wall, and the Door to Yomi opened. Ganondorf stalked through without a word.

The other two made the same choice, curious to find out what he would do if he had no memory of his ambitions.

-&-

For hundreds of years, three individuals sleepwalked through a never-ending cycle perpetuated by the Goddesses. Each carried a piece of the deities' golden treasure, continually seeking their own goals but always coming together as the Goddesses had ordained. This cycle of life and death, destruction and regeneration, powered the land of Hyrule and moved all who lived within it.

But after so many lifetimes, the souls of the three Bearers began to recognize patterns in their lives, and became tormented by images of their past. Finally all three broke free of their bonds and the long-broken Triforce was restored.

The Goddesses reacted with joy, proud that their children had awakened into a higher consciousness. But their brother Onima, fearful that mortals would challenge the role of the gods, attempted to bend Hyrule to his will and reduce those living in it to mere puppets.

Midna, ruler of the Twilight Realm, the land of the dead, explained Onima's plans to the Three Bearers. They journeyed beyond the borders of both Hyrule and the waking world to challenge him. In his house they fought the demons of their past lives, forgotten promises and old wounds that never healed. Onima thought it would be easy to separate them, for one of the three had long been regarded as Hyrule's enemy; but in the end, all three had the same goal.

When the three finally reached Onima, the Goddesses revealed themselves; and with the Three Bearers then sealed him away. When they returned home, the Goddesses explained that they could choose in their next lives how much they wanted to remember, always knowing that they would return to Midna's kingdom at the end of each cycle.

Every time they faced a different danger, a different challenge, but always held together – even when fighting each other – as part of the Goddesses' Chosen Three.


	2. Curse Mark

"So they put seeds in the ground, pour water over them, and plants grow?" the small girl asked eagerly, blue eyes wide with wonder. "Is it magic?"

Her nursemaid chuckled, adjusting the picture book ever so slightly as she held the girl on her lap. The woman did not have the typical look of a governess; in fact, her tight clothing and severe facial features suggested the body and mind of a stealth warrior. And warrior she was. "A kind of magic, I suppose. The miracle of life."

"Did I grow from a seed?" The little blonde girl's hands grasped the book eagerly, flipping through drawings of pine cones and corncobs, looking for something that might resemble a person-seed.

Impa laughed so hard the girl nearly fell out of her arms. "Sort of, yes. But that's a lesson for another day." She stood to leave, watching as the girl's face darkened, running her hand over a set of Deku Baba seeds, violet-black and covered in spines.

"I think this must be the seed I came from," she said slowly, pausing so that the dark mark over her hand, a set of three triangles, rested next to the drawing. "They look cursed, like me."

Bending over to take the book, Impa put it aside and ruffled the girl's hair. "It's a long and complicated explanation. Now practice your calligraphy, and I'll bring you a piece of cake along with your dinner."

The girl's face scowled and brightened at the words "calligraphy" and "cake", and she settled herself into her desk to do the hated task, as Impa closed the door.

The warrior nursemaid locked the door, three locks to be exact, then erected a magical barrier around the room and another around the tall tower itself. "Impa!" the girl called through all of this. "Will you get me some rhubarb pie, if they have it?"

"Of course, Princess Zelda."

-&-

The young boy rode comically atop a horse normally used for plowing, its large size making the boy look even smaller than he really was. He wore a simple tunic colored with dyer's greenweed, and carried a long dagger (more like a short sword for him) at the hip. His only other possessions included a bottle of spring water, a tiny deerskin sack with a pitiful number of rupees in it, and a crude shield hewn from wood.

Link drew in his breath as the splendor of Hyrule Castle came into view. A structure this huge and beautiful would have long been reduced to rubble by the civil wars of Kando, the country where he grew up and learned to fight. But his adoptive parents had told him that he was originally from Hyrule, and that the mark on his hand had something to do with the legends of this country.

Five days ago, a raiding party from a neighboring village attacked in the middle of the night, looting the silos, burning the crops in the fields and salting them so nothing would ever grow again. Both his adoptive parents had fought in defense of the village. Both now rested, along with many of his friends, in the caves flanking their village where the Kando interred their dead..

His adoptive parents gave a word of warning not three months ago, when he expressed an interest in finding his roots. His birth parents had fled Hyrule in a period of unrest, and it had something to do with that mark on his hand. Other refugees hinted that it was some kind of holy icon, but that it was also associated with danger and misfortune, much liked the two-faced Goddess of Luck that the Kando revered. If he returned to Hyrule, they said, he might not get a friendly reception.

Link glanced back over his shoulder at the setting sun, hanging low over the mountains that separated Hyrule from Kando. They could be right, he knew. But he had nothing to lose.

-&-

"You would think," the tall man with sun-bronzed skin and flaming red hair grumbled, "that something this important would have been a little better preserved. Even if our people did leave this country for a number of years."

His second-in-command, Nabooru, held up a series of parchment scraps she had managed to piece together. "I suppose it's a good thing that the desert preserves things so well."

"Even the desert has to be good for something." Ganondorf squinted at the fragmented mess she had given him, trying to find something more than flowery prose describing the odd mark on the back of his hand. At first he had thought nothing of it, believing that it had something to do with being King and the sole male in a tribe of women. But recently he had discovered that his mark was Hylian in origin. What on earth did he have to do with the Hylians, a race of weaklings that simply chose to ignore the desert tribe living at the edge of their kingdom?

"It mentions several times that this icon is associated with a great power," he said at length. "But you'd think something like that would have swarms of people looking for it. Even Hyrule must have its treasure-hunters and a warrior or two."

Nabooru leaned on one hand, her elbow on the table. "It's hard to piece together, but it looks like there's a war connected to every one of the incidents surrounding it."

"Well, that's to be expected."

"I'm just saying that maybe they got sick of dealing with it, and decided to bury it under the sands of time."

Ganondorf rolled his eyes. "How poetic," he said as he slapped the parchment down on the table. "Well, there's only one thing to do. We haven't requested an audience with the Hylian royalty since we arrived here, and for whatever reason they haven't contacted us." He held up his marked hand in a fist. "I suppose this is as much a prerequisite for a visit as any."

-&-

After Impa left for the night with the remains of dinner, Zelda dropped her cute princess façade and dug her nails like a frenzied animal into a small section of the wall's mortar. She extracted a small, sharp digging tool she had fashioned out of a butter knife and pulled her bed's headboard away from the wall, using it as a lever to wiggle a flat, broad stone out of the wall. She caught it before it fell and pulled a thin book from its hiding place. Who had left the book and why, she did not know. She did not understand what force had pulled her toward it, like a divining rod nodding over subterranean water. But it had something to do with the mark on her hand.

It was a child's book to introductory magic, very simple, but Zelda had been explicitly forbidden from practicing magic. Once again, it had something to do with the mark on her hand. But she did not feel cursed by the mark. She felt the curse came from the outside, someone imposing their will on something that did not belong to them. And if the usurper chose to deny her bond to the strange symbol, then she would deny its taboos.

The first lesson involved creating a simple ball of energy in one's hand. Some nights she succeeded in doing it, some night she did not. She placed her hands together and concentrated, eager to master it so that she could move onto the next chapter.


	3. Imprisoned

"Who goes there?" the guard at the drawbridge demanded, trying his hardest to look as if he was in charge. Before him stood a tall man of a kind he had never seen before, who was nearly twice his girth, atop a black horse that snorted in fiery impatience.

"I am Ganondorf Dragmire, King of the Gerudo," the tall man answered, staring down at the guard with fierce amber eyes, as if speaking to a mere bug. "I wish to have an audience with your King."

"Ah." The guard considered for a moment, then decided there was nothing wrong with one King wishing to visit another. And there was really nothing he'd be able to do to stop him, anyway. "Very well, you may proceed."

The giant hooves of the massive beast clicked past, and the guard let out a sigh of relief.

As the Gerudo King's steed entered the town square, the entire populace stopped what they were doing and stared. A girl chasing a cucco stopped short and let it flap past the horse's nose. A young couple standing in the middle of the road slowly backed away. An old carpenter watched with his mouth open, not noticing that the food on his fork had fallen into his lap.

Ganondorf stared right back. He had never seen such a place. Once he got over the greenery, the tall buildings of stone, he realized that all this finery was what probably made them so weak. A fire-scorpion had a hard, beautiful shell, but underneath it was soft, boneless flesh.

He glanced around the town, searching for something that resembled the mark on his hand. If it were a Hylian symbol, and had as much written about it as it did, it should show up fairly prominently in their own town. Yet he could not see any sign of it anywhere.

He pulled the horse's reins over toward a tall building, an obvious place of worship. Squinting up at the building's double doors, he noticed that an ornament over the entrance had been plastered over, no sign of its design visible.

Frowning, he turned to the little knot of people that had been following him, as if he were a one-man circus. "Which way to the castle?"

They stood silent for a brief moment, then collectively pointed to his right. He rode past them without speaking another word.

-&-

Perhaps an hour or so later, Link rode into town. He, however, got the exact opposite reaction. Upon reaching the guard at the gate, the man simply waved him onward. The crowd of townspeople barely noticed him, except to point and laugh.

Link brought his horse into the stables of an inn. Upon finding the innkeeper and requesting some bread and water (the cheapest thing the inn would serve), he asked one of the waitresses, "Excuse me, but does this mean anything to you?"

He took off his glove. The young girl's eyes widened, and she turned pale as a ghost. "No, sir," she replied immediately, her voice trembling. She turned around and ran into the kitchen.

Link stared after her. Obviously she was lying, but he couldn't figure out why. Even if the mark had some bad association with it, he hardly looked threatening. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be more careful about who he asked.

Turning to the innkeeper, he said, "I've come from Kando looking for relatives. Do you know where I could find a genealogy?"

"You could ask one of the scholars at the castle," the big man said doubtfully. "But they only keep track of nobles and heroes. You know, important people."

Link nodded. "Yeah, I know."

He paid his bill, and left the inn. As he walked toward the castle, he saw the waitress that had run away from him talking to one of the guards. She pointed in his direction, and the guard began walking toward him. Mystified, Link kept going, hoping that if he could duck into the crowd he could get to the castle without more trouble.

No good. The guard hailed two others overseeing the path to the castle, and the one on the left frowned down at him. "Where are you off to, son?"

Link took a deep breath, trying to appear as calm as possible. "The innkeeper over there said I should go to the castle, and speak to the scholars. I'm looking for relatives. My parents are from here, but I was born in Kando."

The second guard snorted. "What makes you think that any of _your_ relatives would have a genealogy?"

"Take a look at his hand," the guard from the inn stated, catching up to them. The other two stared in confusion, until he grasped Link's arm and ripped off his glove.

Horrified gasps arose from the three men. Suddenly they pinned the bemused boy's hands behind his back, drawing their swords. A little group of people swarmed around to watch the ruckus. "All right, boy. You're under arrest."

"What on earth for?" Link demanded. "I haven't done anything!"

"Silence," the guard ordered. "I don't know what someone like you is doing with that mark, but there's no way we're going to allow you to cause any trouble."

-&-

_Princess Zelda_.

Zelda's head jerked up from her book, searching around for the source of the voice. "Who's there?"

_Hear me, Princess. The time is nigh. The people of Hyrule have abandoned us, but we have not abandoned you. I am Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom._

The mark on her hand glowed bright, and Zelda's heart skipped a beat. "Goddess? The same Goddess who cursed this country?"

_You have been fed lies, child. I know you can feel it in your heart, even though it goes against everything you have been taught. The Triforce, the holy relic, rests within you, as it did your ancestor._

"And what am I supposed to do with it?" Zelda demanded of the unseen speaker. "Locked up here in this castle?"

_You know there are ways out, child. I know you have stayed here not for lack of knowledge or courage, but lack of a path to follow. The two other Bearers have arrived._

"Bearers?"

_Ones with marks like yours. Your uncle will try to destroy them, but you must not let this happen. The Triforce is Hyrule's power. Without it, Hyrule will eventually disappear._

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Zelda demanded, her face set in determination.

_Go find Courage and Power. They are your compliments, your companions. Release them from the dungeons before they are taken to the Shadow Temple!_

-&-

Ganondorf kneeled before the dais, trying – very unsuccessfully – to look non-threatening. The lords and ladies of the court kept their distance, and the King – a sour-looking man with a gaunt face and thinning hair – stared upon him with a mixture of fear and contempt. Somehow Ganondorf sensed that this did not necessarily have to do with his appearance, or the fact that he was Gerudo.

He had seen many, many defaced walls, and upon closer inspection had discovered that the symbol on his hand had once been repeated ceaselessly around the castle. Now only a spread-eagle stood, and sometimes not even that. He wondered at several points if he should just turn around and leave, but then he would not have an answer to his question.

From the guards he had gleaned some vital information. The current King, Thalius, had not been the heir to the throne. He had gained it upon convincing the people that the previous king's daughter had some kind of evil power within her, and she now lived hidden somewhere in the castle. Thalius had wanted to kill her outright, but the Queen – who sat next to Thalius with a face of stone, would not permit her daughter to be harmed. The previous king, her first husband, had died under mysterious circumstances.

"Who are you?" Thalius demanded, speaking as if a mere peasant kneeled before him instead of another King.

Ganondorf bit back a sharp retort and said, with measured politeness, "I am Ganondorf Dragmire of the Gerudo. We have lived on the outskirts of your kingdom for many years, and yet we have never met."

A nervous titter began among the audience. Both rulers eyed Ganondorf with suspicion, and the King waved his hand impatiently as he might to a dullard servant. "There is no need to ask anything of us. We have no need of the desert. You may live there as you like."

Ganondorf hid his confusion, wondering why this man seemed so eager to get rid of him. "Sire, I have but a small request, a mere question that I am sure you can answer."

Thalius shifted uneasily, but said, "Well, go on, then."

Pulling off his glove, he presented the back of his hand and asked, "What is the meaning of this mark?"

He was completely unprepared for their reaction.

"Guards, seize him!" the King yelped, leaping to his feet. Several people screamed. Ganondorf stood and wavered slightly in confusion, wondering just what he had done.

"Enough!" he shouted in a voice that echoed throughout the great hall. "I mean you no harm. Just tell me what is going on!"

"As if you don't know," the captain of the guard snarled, his soldiers pointing a forest of spears and swords at him. "Do you take us for fools? Surrender, or die!"

Ganondorf could have easily blasted them with magic, then set about them with his own sword. But he realized he would never figure out what was going on that way, and this strange mystery – whatever it was – was much bigger than him.

Better to let them believe he had no power. In time he could figure out what led to this outburst of suspicion and fear. No way to find out if he killed them all, or scared them away. He allowed them to lead him away, knowing they had no idea how futile iron bars could be in holding him.


	4. Three Bearers

Zelda felt her way down the hidden corridor, pressing her fingers into the cracks as she maneuvered in total darkness. At one point her foot slipped and she wavered slightly, digging her fingers into the crumbling grout between the stones. She heard the sound of pebbles near her feet rattle and click, smacking against things as they fell into the deep void below.

A secret passage, built for she knew not what purpose; but it had lain forgotten for so long that even Impa did not know about it. The strange mark on her hand had drawn her toward it, a little over a year ago, and she had explored it bit by bit when the boredom ate at her mind too deeply for her to bear. But she had never gone this far, and at this point it was only great care, instinct, and luck that kept her from losing her footing.

Finally a dull glow reached her eyes, and she stared as if blind at the mark on her hand. As she inched her way downward, it glowed ever so slightly brighter. Perhaps the people she was looking for were nearby. She had no idea what 'Power' and "Courage' would look like, and felt grateful to have the Triforce to help recognize them, whoever they might be.

She heard the clank of armor to her left, and knew a guard had to be nearby. Zelda eased herself down to the bottom step, then cautiously reached out with her foot to make sure there were no more holes or drops. She listened hard at the far wall, where her mark glowed the brightest, and when she heard the guard clank away she pressed her hand against a similar mark on the wall.

-&-

Ganondorf smiled cordially toward the young guard who stood across the small room from him, tipping his head slightly as he met the man's eyes through the iron bars. He could distinctly see the man shiver, and heard the rattle of armor.

_I wish I knew why my mark has gotten all these people in such a fuss_ he thought to himself. _Imagine how they would react if they knew what I could do. In fact, although they seem suspicious of my name and my race – and they should be, as I understand I was named for someone a bit unstable – it's the mark that scares them. Even though it's of their making, and is spoken of in high regard._

Ganondorf had a feeling that the current King was using misinformation to rule his people, though he had no idea what he could have said in order to make a sacred symbol scare them so deeply. Maybe the Hylians' fears that he would attempt to take over the country were not misplaced; but even so, he felt he could do better than a cowardly man who kept control of others using lies and deceit.

Suddenly he heard a ruckus on the far left side of the dungeon, and two guards dragged a struggling young man in between them. The boy wore peasants' clothes, but one of the guards held a simple yet well-made sword, which he must have confiscated.

The guards threw the boy into the cell next to Ganondorf. The Gerudo King watched as the boy immediately stood up and nearly climbed the walls in defiance, sticking his fingers in the lock in order to determine its mechansim.

Both amused and intrigued, Ganondorf asked, "What are you in for, boy? Those are farmer's clothes you're wearing…you can't be a simple street thief."

The boy pushed back the shock of blonde hair from his face and turned to Ganondorf with huge blue eyes, which grew even wider. "You have a mark like mine!" he exclaimed, and showed Ganondorf the back of his hand.

Ganondorf nearly fell over. What was this puny kid doing with the mark of a great power? He had to admit, though, there was something unusual about the kid. "Yeah, I do. And that's the reason we're both locked in here."

"Whatever for?"

"I've no idea," Ganondorf said simply. "All I've been able to determine is that there was a shift of power on the throne, and the current ruler has demonized anything that has to do with the previous King." He frowned at the boy's blank expression. "That means that what was good is now bad, including this mark. And there is at least one other person who has one, the Princess of this kingdom, who is hidden captive somewhere in this castle."

The youth's eyes lit up. "A hidden princess? Just like in a fairy tale!"

Ganondorf rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, unless you have a magic fairy or something, that fact isn't going to help us much."

Leaning forward, the boy whispered, "I can get us out of here, if you're willing to fight with me."

Stunned, Ganondorf bent down and whispered back, "That's a brave thing to suggest, boy, but foolish. I'm with you, but I want you to follow _my_ lead…and get of here using theives' tricks."

The boy nodded, extending his hand. "My name's Link. What's yours?"

_Strange…the name seems familiar, though I know I've never heard it before._ "It's Ganondorf, kid. Ganondorf Dragmire of the Gerudo."

"Oy!" The guard across the room yelled. "No more talking, you two."

Ganondorf gave him his best oily smile. "Just trying to reassure the boy, here," he said with no hint of sarcasm. "I'm sure it must be a frightening experience for a young lad."

In the few seconds it took for Ganondorf to speak, Link had popped open the lock. As the guard leaped forward, he suddenly disappeared in a wreath of fire. Link turned, wide-eyed, as Ganondorf calmly unlocked his own door. "Did you do that?"

"I did. You have a problem with that, boy?"

"No," Link said as he retrieved his sword from the box just behind where the guard had been standing. "But let's not evaporate any more people if we can, okay?"

"Hey you!" Three more guards appeared from the entry door to the room, and launched themselves upon the two freed prisoners. Ganondorf watched in stunned surprise as Link easily disarmed his opponents, then ran them both through.

Ganondorf dispatched the last one with another burst of magic. "I wouldn't expect such a pacifist to be so handy with a sword."

Link sheathed his sword. "The key words were 'if we can'. If someone's gonna attack me, I'm not just gonna stand here." He turned to his new companion. "Where should we start looking for this princess? Think your theiving skills are good enough to steal one from a castle?"

Ganondorf grinned in spite of himself. "Yes, actually. It's just a question of finding her. I doubt that she would be down here, even if disgraced, as she's still a person of nobility. It would not surprise me if she were in a special place, a tower or separate dungeon."

Suddenly both jumped, startled, as the marks on their hands lit up with a subtle but unmistakable glow. "What's that mean?" Link demanded. "It's never done that before."

"Hang on, kid, I don't have the answers to everything." Ganondorf scanned the room with both human and supernatural sense, a magic entity appearing in his second sight off to his left. "There's someone with significant magic power approaching from over there," he replied, pointing. "Friend or foe, I can't tell."

Link drew his sword and both approached the hallway carefully, Ganondorf lighting a ball of fire in his hand to push away the shadows that the torches did not reach. Suddenly they heard a shout, the clank of armor, and a young girl's yelp of fear and surprise.

Link leaped forward before Ganondorf could say anything. Cursing, the Gerudo King followed him as quickly as he could without jumping blindly into the dark. He rounded a corner to see the boy challenging three guards, who held two swords and a spear in his face.

As the boy attacked, the guard holding a spear – much bigger and well-built than the others – struck Link across the head with the butt of his weapon. The three guards checked at the sight of Ganondorf as Link picked himself up off the floor. "He's just a boy, but you're different," the largest guard growled in a surprisingly thick voice.

Ganondorf sneered. "Three or three hundred, you're no match for me." He concentrated his magic power into one hand – the marked one – and balling it into a fist, he punched the knight full into the chest. After a flash of un-light, the others in the room blinked and saw nothing but a pile of armor where the guard had stood. The other two guards turned and fled down the hall.

"Wait!" Ganondorf ordered, pulling Link back by his shirt. The boy turned and saw what the men had been guarding; a young woman in a purple dress of fine silks, her hair done up in braids and a simple gold crown on her head.

She stared back at Link just as incredulously as he stared at her. "Courage and Power," she said more to herself than to them. Then, with a slight incline of her head, she said, "Welcome and well met. I am Princess Zelda."

Ganondorf frowned at Link, who stared open-mouthed. "I am Ganondorf, King of the Gerudo. My companion here is Link. Now that we've got all the little niceties taken care of, perhaps you can tell us how to get out of here?"

Zelda absently touched the back of her hand as she thought, the mark clear and bright on her as well. "This way," she said as she pointed down the hallway opposite.

They swept through the hallways at a half-run, Ganondorf lighting the way forward and holding them back at every turn, listening for more guards. They could hear shouts behind them, but nothing in front of them, until they reached a fork in the passages. "They're coming from all sides," Ganondorf growled. "We'll have to fight one way or the other…what are you doing?"

Zelda stood at the right-side wall, running her hand along it as if feeling for something. Suddenly the mark on her hand lit up, and the outline of a door appeared. "Quick, follow me!" she ordered. The other two followed, nonplussed, as the door shut behind them with no trace of its existance.

Link walked forward in the light provided by the Gerudo sorcerer. "Well, only one way to go now." He turned to Zelda. "Do you know what this is all about? Why did we get thrown into prison for having this mark on our hand?"

"It's a curse mark, or so my uncle says," Zelda replied,her face grave. "So I've been told all my life…yet somehow I sense this isn't true."

"It's not," Ganondorf replied. "The old scrolls in our library back home speak of this mark – the Triforce – as a great and benevolent power, though there's hints in the histories of people misusing it."

"Yes, that's what Nayru said," Zelda remarked absently. Upon seeing the stares of the others, she continued with a blush, "I'm sorry…I usually don't have anyone to talk to, so I'm used to talking to myself. Nayru is…well, this may seem hard to believe, but Nayru is a goddess…and she spoke to me…"

They both stared at her. "Well, that is kind of weird," Link ventured. "But you've got the same mark as us, and you found us here…there's got to be something to that."

"The libraries mention a goddess named Nayru," Ganondorf said. "But our information is very fragmented. My people left Hyrule for a time, you see. What we have is all that's left after years of neglect."

"It's more than we have," Zelda said indignantly. "My uncle attempted to purge any sign of the Triforce from Hyrule…even defacing the castle where it was carved into the walls. You can be sure that he burned every book in the Royal Archives that mentioned it."

"What's so dangerous about this thing?" Link asked. "My relatives in Kando didn't know…they just said that it had something to do with Hyrule."

"King Ganondorf, could we look at what you have in your archives?" Zelda asked. "It sounds like a foolish request, from one who should be keeper of such information, but…"

"Not at all," Ganondorf replied genially. "I was going to suggest that you do so anyway. You three are coming with me."

Link eyed him distrustfully. "Is that supposed to be an order? You're not my King."

"No, but it's to your own advantage. I don't normally let Hylian kids tag along with me, but you two seem to have a very special difference." He laughed. "Besides, we have to go somewhere after we get out of this place, and the Gerudo Fortress is probably the safest place for an enemy of the Crown right now. And besides," he added with a noticeable glint in his eyes, "if this thing does possess some kind of power, you can bet I'm not going to let that fool King get his hands on it."


	5. Three Goddesses, Six Sigils

The three crouched in a far corner of the stables, waiting for the groomers to leave. Link had spotted his horse easily, the only draft horse in a stable of racehorses and war horses. But Ganondorf scowled at the old mare. "We'll never outrun anyone on that bag of bones. Where's my horse? I'm sure the blasted guards took him somewhere, but I don't see any other stables around here."

Suddenly shouts rang through the air, pierced by bellowing neighs that sounded unlike any creature the two children had ever heard. A wide smile broke over the warlord's face. "Well, that answers my question. Should have known he wouldn't go quietly." He crept toward the door, beckoning toward the others.

Link drew in his breath as he saw the massive black creature reared on its hind legs and whipped its head back and forth, scattering grooms trying to grasp its metal bridle. The muscles stood out in its legs - as much as he could see with all the armor - and yet the enormous animal moved with a quick, fierce grace.

Ganondorf shouted to his steed and the horse bucked off the remainder of the soldiers clutching its restraints. As Link led his own horse out from the stables, Ganondorf unfettered his own and climbed aboard, pulling Zelda up after him. "Eh, boy, are you sure you can keep up?"

"I'll be fine," Link retorted. "Stop talking and start moving!"

With a bark of a laugh, Ganondorf uttered a single word of command and the black horse bolted forward. "I'll clear a path for you!" he shouted cheerfully as Link nudged his mare forward.

Zelda clung to her fellow Bearer as they thundered out of the stables, over the small field and into the town, bowling people over as they went. "Stop that!" Zelda snapped as one of the guards went careening off to the side. "My people imprisoned me out of ignorance. There's no need to treat them this way!"

"Sorry, Milady," Ganondorf said with a grim smile. "But even if we're too fast for them to stop us, we still need to get to the Fortress as quickly as possible. I can't imagine they'll just let their Princess leave, even if you're a Princess in exile. I need to prepare my people for the inevitable battle." He looked over his shoulder. "Well, I'll be. The boy seems to be keeping pace quite well."

Link rode with his head down as low as possible, willing Epona to go as fast as she could. Though a work horse, she was still much lighter than Ganondorf's steed, and could leap over obstacles that the other had to go around. He grit his teeth in frustration upon seeing the injured townspeople, knowing they would associate him with the one who had carelessly rode into their midst. But that feeling faded slightly when a guard's arrow pierced his upper arm. Link hunkered down even lower behind his wooden shield and kept his gaze fixed on the black horse in front of him.

Too surprised to raise the drawbridge and trap them inside, the guard at the gate simply watched open-mouthed as the two horses sped by, the call to arms sounding behind him.

Ganondorf turned his horse to the east, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Link was still there. Somehow it didn't surprise him that the boy managed to hold his own. Still, he didn't want to count too much on him; Link's righteous personality would likely clash with his own. He slowed his horse down slightly, so it could travel at a more measured pace.

Epona panted hard as her hooves tore up the field, yet Link could see the end of the field coming up before them. A wall of brownish stone greeted them, and the ground turned to stone as well. Ganondorf led them through a passage between the stones, over a rickety bridge spanning a rushing river far below, and onto a mesa full of thorny brush. Finally, Link slowed down as they passed through what looked like had once been a great stone gate, now chewed by the elements with a relatively new wooden sign hanging above. Link didn't know the mark, but he remembered seeing it somewhere on Ganondorf's clothing.

Ganondorf slowed his horse to a canter, and raised his hand in greeting to the guards that stood upon the high cliffs, indicating that the person behind him was not chasing him. Link glanced up and swallowed hard as he noticed the lines of archers, who had their arrows pointed toward his heart until just that moment.

Several women carrying halberds and wearing brightly colored silks ran up to them as they dismounted from their horses. They chattered excitedly to Ganondorf, but looked with slight suspicion upon the two children. The womens' eyes widened as their King gestured toward Link and Zelda.

Link glanced around, puzzled. "Are the warriors women here?"

"All Gerudo, except for Ganondorf, are women," Zelda replied. "Only one male is born every hundred years, and he becomes their King. I don't know why; they seem to function well enough without one."

One of the Gerudo took hold of Epona's bridle. Before Link could object, Ganondorf said to him, "You two are my guests, and will stay here tonight. I must prep my warriors for a possible confrontation; in the meantime, I will have my people give you something to eat and show you where you can sleep." He motioned toward one who wore leather gloves and had a bright ruby tied into her ponytail. "This is my second-in-command, Nabooru. She speaks Hylian and will escort you."

The two children nodded in greeting. Nabooru motioned toward them to follow her. "So, little Princess, my King tells me he rescued you." She laughed. "That must be a complete shock, given his ancestor's history, eh? I'm told my people caused quite a bit of trouble for yours at one time."

"Er…forgive me for my ignorance," said Zelda, "but unfortunately I have not had access to even the simplest of my country's history."

Nabooru stared. "Ganondorf told me that it looked like your people had attempted to wipe out their own history. I'm surprised you know nothing, though. Are you not a member of the Royal Family?"

Zelda looked at the ground. "Yes, but…my uncle requested that I learn nothing…it is only by my mother's grace that I am here at all…"

"Courage!" Nabooru stepped over to an enormous pot straddled over a slightly smaller fire, and ladled out a bowl of something that smelled like spicy beef. "Eat up, and sleep. I doubt the Hylians will attack to-day." She smiled as Link thanked her. "And you, the courageous boy…our fragmented texts state that your doppelganger has always been trouble for ours. So good to have so many powerful people on one side, eh?"

Link had no idea what she meant, and the pull of the food distracted him anyway. He simply nodded and fell upon his dinner as if he had never eaten before.

-&-

"Permission to speak freely, sir," the Western Captain requested.

"Permission granted," Ganondorf grunted.

"My Lord, forgive me, but this seems foolhardy," she said, the other three captains stiffening at her frankness. "The Hylians will fight a lengthy if not fierce war to get their Princess back, exile or not. You have no idea what this mysterious power does, and neither does its supposed keeper of knowledge."

"That last part works to my advantage," Ganondorf insisted. "It will be easier for me to take possession of it. And then we will have no need to worry about Hylians knocking at our Fortress doors."

"Then you must figure it out yourself, if at all," the Southern Captain said, with tentative apprehension. "Forgive me, my Lord, but how long must we defend our walls in a constant siege?"

"We can use the tunnel-spider method. Hide in the secret catacombs until the Hylians have deserted."

The Eastern Captain, the eldest of the five, clicked her tongue. "You would have the Hylians tear down what we worked so hard to build?"

She met and held Ganondorf's gaze. He turned away with a sigh. "Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself," he acquiesced. "But the fact remains that there's no way I could have known what was going on, and now we've got one of their royals here as a result. If only I could find more information…"

"You should not ask us, you should ask the girl you brought," the Northern Captain suggested. "Show her our texts. It may jog her memory and help ferret out the little she knows."

-&-

"It's still a few hours before sunset," Nabooru said as Link and Zelda finished their dinner. "If you are tired, I can show you to your rooms, but…"

She turned around as Ganondorf entered the room. "I need to speak with the two Hylians." He motioned toward them to follow him, and led them into the sad little library with its tattered texts. "There's not much here, but maybe something we have will coincide with something you know, and we can pit the pieces of the puzzle together."

Zelda picked up a scroll, one of a few still whole, with Link leaning over her shoulder. Skimming its words, she set it down and picked up another. "There doesn't seem to be much substance here."

Ganondorf frowned. "I know that. This may be futile…"

Link touched Zelda's hand lightly with his own, and the symbol glowed once more. Curious, Ganondorf did the same. All three cried out in surprise as a blinding light shot forth from their hands. As they blinked back tears, they took a collective step back as they caught sight of three more people in the room.

The first stood in robes of scarlet, with literally flaming red hair. Her skin was the same color as the Gerudo, but she had a Hylian's pointed ears. She stared out from fierce, yet impish amber eyes. The second stood ramrod straight in a deep blue gown, the crown on her head accenting the severe angles of her face. Her eyes were a cold blue, her hair deep black, and she had an aura of timelessness around her. The third stood in a simple robe of forest green, her brown hair in twin braids over her shoulders. She watched them through warm brown eyes with a motherly air.

"Who are you, and how did you get into my Fortress?" Ganondorf demanded.

The fire-woman laughed, a light and airy sound. "How quickly you forget! But then that's not your fault. We are the Three Goddesses of Hyrule, the creators of the power that you hold in your hands. I am Din, Goddess of Power, and these are my sisters; Farore, the Goddess of Courage, and Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom."

Zelda took a tentative step toward the blue-robed woman. "So you are the one who spoke to me when I was imprisoned."

Nayru nodded. "For too long the Three Bearers have been absent from Hyrule. With no one to hold the Triforce, Hyrule's magic has faded. If it fades too far, it will be come a simple country like any other."

"What can we do?" Link asked. "Nobody seems to know anything about the Triforce, other than it causes problems."

Farore nodded. "It can, and yet, it is the backbone of your whole world. It is a perfect balance of Good and Evil. The constant pressure between its forces is the energy that powers the Endless Cycle, the constant rebirth of the Bearers."

"But Hyrule has gone so long without the Three, that much of its history has been forgotten," Din explained. "Every few centuries there is a crisis, that brings back memories of the Hero that stopped it. The people of Hyrule have become dull, weak, and unimaginative."

"The old tales have been forgotten, or in some cases, even destroyed," Nayru added. "You must breathe new life into them."

"So now what?" Ganondorf demanded. "I can play the villain's role, if that's what you want…but it seems like a strange request…"

"That is not enough," Farore told him. "A simple fight between you and the Hero would go unnoticed in these times. Even if you took over the country, the people would not remember that there is a Hero to save them."

"Hyrule's power is contained in its sacred shrines." Nayru held up her hands and a series of multicolored medallions appeared there. "They have not been tended in ages, and have fallen into ruin. You must take these sigils and put them in their proper places. Then the magic channels, like blood vessels, can open up and carry Hyrule's power through them again."

As Nayru placed them on the table before the Three, Din spoke. "There are six elements: Fire, Water, Forest, Spirit, Light, and Shadow. Each of the six races of Hyrule built a shrine to the one that best fit their people." She smiled. "Can you find your own, my Chosen One?"

Ganondorf blinked as he realized she was addressing him. He stepped up to the table, and scanned the medallions. Running his marked hand over them, he noticed it glow as he passed his hand over the copper-colored one. "This one," he said, holding up the Spirit Medallion.

Din nodded, smiling. "The Temple your distant ancestors built lies somewhere in the Wasteland, half-buried by sand. Once it is returned to its proper place, a chapter of Hyrule's forgotten history will be restored."

"With that history, you can restore Hyrule to its former glory," said Nayru. "Do not fail, my children. For if you do, a greater tragedy will befall your country than anything you or your ancestors have ever seen."

And with that, they disappeared without a trace.


	6. Spirit

In groups of two, the Gerudo scouts planted stakes in the ground as their ancestors once did, with a bright bit of fabric tied at the end so it could be seen in the gnawing sandstorm. This time, however, they had the benefit of a compass to find the lost temple. Scraps of parchment had given clues to its location, and they followed the instructions as well as they were able. They had no idea if they were on the right track or not, but there was no other way to tell.

Ganondorf barked orders, even his voice swallowed up by the screaming wind. Zelda pulled her borrowed veil tighter around her face, only able to make herself heard to Link (and vice versa) by screaming in his ear.

"There may be a haunted shelter around here somewhere," Ganondorf shouted, motioning for his warriors to come in closer. "But it may have been swallowed up by the wind and sand…"

"Or exposed by it!" Link pointed to a blurry shape just off to their left. They moved closer, and could see the remains of a small stone building in front of them, a half-rotted wooden door partially shielded from the wind. Link popped in the door without any hesitation.

"Idiot, what does he think he's doing?!" Ganondorf demanded. "He doesn't know what's in there!" He, Zelda, and the four other Gerudo ducked in through the doorway. They nearly tumbled down a set of rusted iron stairs, and stepped to the ground in time to see Link place the finishing blow on a Poe.

"Careful, boy, you don't know what's in a place like this," Ganondorf admonished him.

"There was just one ghost. I took care of it." He sheathed his sword and glanced around. "I don't think this is the temple…it's just one room."

"Of course not. This is just a storage silo…to hide food or treasure, I assume. Nothing here now."

Zelda pulled her pack off her shoulder. "Might as well have a bite to eat, then. We don't know when we'll have another chance."

They ate their dried meat and bread in silence, Link still looking around. "You know what's strange? The torches were lit even before I came in here. Do you think someone else was here…besides the ghosts?"

Ganondorf shook his head. "The people living here before us were very skilled with magic. Even something as an ever-burning flame would have been easy for them. These torches have likely been burning for eternity…or at least as long as this structure as stood, possibly nearly as long."

After a few moments of rest, they were back in the sandstorm. The scouts did not seem particularly bothered by the poor conditions, as if it were all in the day's work for them. Zelda had heard, in rumors here and there, that the Gerudo had been a particularly hardy and powerful people; but she had never been allowed to research anything to back it up.

One of the scouts ran back to her leader, speaking rapidly. He nodded and turned to the two children. "She says she has found a stone bottom, making it hard to place the flags. But it could also mean that the ruin is nearby."

As they moved further, the sandstorm began to die down. Zelda frowned in puzzlement; it did not seem to move like a normal storm, and there were no large outcroppings of rock or any other barrier to block it. Up ahead, as the air cleared, she could see what looked like a pile of rocks.

As they got closer, they could see that the rock had been carved by long-dead artists. A woman's body rose up out of the sand, everything below her waist buried in the dunes. A column of stone stood behind her, and one hand had broken off. Large boulders, once pieces of the original sculpture, lay haphazardly about, as if a giant had scattered them in a fit of pique.

Link and Zelda stared with wide eyes, and the women chattered in excited voices; but Ganondorf scowled. "The entrance is probably fifteen or twenty feet below the sand. How are we supposed to enter now?"

Zelda carefully picked her way between the boulders. "I remember reading something about a second entrance near one of the hands; not really a way to get in when it was built, but a sort of guidepost door for guards." Link followed her, then branched off to the left, wiping the back of his neck as the midday sun began to beat down on all of them. Ganondorf spoke quickly to his warriors and they all fanned out.

After maybe an hour in the sweltering heat, one of the women shouted and gestured to something just behind her. The rest of the group climbed up the stones and Link sighed in relief as cool air wafted through his hair from some subterranean chamber.

"I think I can squeeze in there," Ganondorf muttered, frowning at the small entrance. Then he spoke to the women, who nodded and began picking their way back over the boulders.

"Aren't they going to help us?" Link asked.

Ganondorf shook his head. "We don't know what's in there, and I don't want my warriors hurt without reason. Besides," he added, gesturing to the odd mark on his hand, "I think this is something we should keep between the three of us."

--

It was pitch black in there, as one would expect in a cave with no outlet. They had brought a slow-burning lantern, with a weak but persistent flame. It was more than enough to light their way in that forsaken place.

"I wonder why there are no magic torches in here," Link said, his voice echoing eerily off the empty halls. "Surely people would come here frequently, if this was a place of worship."

Zelda fingered the outline of the Spirit Medallion in her pack. "The magic sustaining this place is based on a different source. The storage chamber we found was meant to be hidden. This place seems to be suffering, after being forgotten. Can't you feel it?"

Ganondorf nodded. He sensed a strange, aching melancholy in the air, similar to what he had felt mixed in with puzzlement when he had seen the Triforce mark hacked out of the stone walls of Hyrule Castle. It was as if the place had a huge festering wound, and waited anxiously for them to close it.

They passed under a doorway half-buried in the sand, and even though there was no movement of air in that space, they could sense they had come into a much larger room. Link held up the lantern, but its light did not reach to the opposite walls. He squinted in the darkness beyond, then stepped toward a shape barely on the edge of his vision.

Before them was a carved figure, buried up to its neck in sand. It resembled the broken woman from the Temple's entrance. Link walked further and the light rested on another doorway, this time choked with sand up to the top. The sand spilled out onto the ground where they now stood. Something told Link that the sand had been leaking in here for a very long time.

"What should we do?" Link asked. "I don't see any other doors, and even if there are some here, we'd have to dig through the sand to get to them."

"Wait a moment. Could you bring the light back over here?" Zelda bent over a pile of rotted wood and rusty chains in the middle of the room, half-buried in the sand. Link stepped toward her and shone the lantern over it. "It looks as old as everything else, but the chains aren't that long, so it must have been hanging from the ceiling before this place fell to ruin." She raised her head and pointed upward. "Look, there's a hole in the ceiling. I can just barely make it out."

Ganondorf scowled. "Even with all this sand, we're still not close enough to just jump up there. And I doubt anyone brought a ladder."

Link dug in his pack, taking out a thin rope and rusty grappling-hook. "If there's something I can catch onto up there, this might work."

Ganondorf looked at the thin rope with doubt but said nothing. After a few tries, Link managed to latch the hook around something above them. He tugged a few times, then scurried up. Zelda managed to follow, after a boost from Ganondorf. The tall man tugged on the rope a few times, then started up; but halfway up, the rope snapped. Ganondorf landed on his back with a few choice curses.

"Sorry, boy," he grumbled, showing the snapped end to Link. "It looks like I can't follow."

"If you toss me the rope, I can tie it together and it will be enough to hold the two of us, if we need to use it further," Link told him. "But will you be all right here by yourself?"

The man made a short bark of laughter and tossed the rope back up into the ceiling hole. "I'll be fine, boy. You see if there's anywhere to place that sigil, and I'll look around and make sure that we didn't miss anything." He spread his hand open, and a purplish ball of flame appeared there. "I didn't really come here to play in the sand, but you know what they say…the best treasures are always those best hidden."

"Okay. We'll be back!" Zelda called, and the lantern light disappeared as they walked swiftly away.

Ganondorf looked back at the huge room and set his jaw, trying to figure out the best way to remove the sand, or at least push it aside. He could summon a whirlwind, but he wasn't sure he could do so without sandblasting himself in the face. He also didn't want to do anything that could damage the ancient statue.

"Look, Sister, a visitor has come."

He jerked out of his reverie, raising the hand with the flame and staring around. "Who's there?" he demanded.

"Ah yes, one of us, and yet not," came another voice, similar but different.

"Ha ha!" A cackle rent the air, like that of an old woman. "A descendant of the spoiled child, it seems."

"Yes, the one who abandoned us!"

Ganondorf jumped at the malice in the voice. "Who are you? A lost spirit? I mean you no harm. I come on an errand of the Goddesses."

More laughter echoed throughout the room, ricocheting off the walls. "An errand of the Goddesses, he says! Still asserting his claim to the power of the gods!"

"We should have whipped him more as a child."

"Yes! Prince or not! He was already spoiled before his mother left him to us."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ganondorf bellowed in the chamber, over the malicious laughter. "But I speak no lies when I say I come with a holy errand. Perhaps when that is done, you will be at peace, spirits."

More laughter. A blue flame and a red flame suddenly appeared on either side of him, and as he watched the lights creep closer to them, two forms took shape beneath them. Both elderly women, short and stout, wearing the clothing of the ancient Gerudoes and sitting astride broomsticks, of all things.

"Who are you, Grandmothers?" he asked, trying to placate them with a bit of respect.

One cocked her head at him. "He really doesn't know us, Koume."

The other snorted through her long nose. "Of course he doesn't. He's not the same one, Kotake."

"Hmpf. He possesses the same spirit, I can smell it. Yes, his and that of that cursed child!"

Koume raised her head and sniffed the air. Her face twisted in rage. "The blood of the Hero! He is here! Now we can finally return the curse he granted to us all those years ago!"

Ganondorf edged back toward the hole where the children had disappeared. "I don't know what your problem is, but I'm not going to let you harm my companions."

"Your companions?" The red-haired one stared at him in disbelief. He could see now that it was not hair, but burning flame, whereas the other had hair of ice.

"This is most unusual." The ice-headed one considered for a few moments. Then she grinned at Ganondorf. "Silly fool. Once you were going to be King of the World…now you're merely the lackey of the Hylians."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Be silent, or leave!" Ganondorf roared.

"The mark, the mark!" the red one cried. "See, he still possesses Power!"

"We must have it!" the blue one hissed, licking her lips. "If we do, we can return from this half-life and live once again!"

Ganondorf flexed his hand and the small flame turned to a ball of snapping, sparkling electricity. "You'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead, hand, old crone."

Both grinned with sharp white teeth. "Dear boy, we're more than glad to oblige."

--

"Link, I see light over here!" Link whirled round and hurried toward the sound of Zelda's voice. He could indeed see a faint light in front of them, a small spot just above the ground. As they came closer, they could see that the light came from a small hole in the ceiling, and it illuminated a raised platform, which was covered with rocky debris.

"I wonder if it was an altar of some kind," Zelda mused, examining the room.

"Look at this!" Link held up his lantern near the wall and to their surprise, the light reflected off a bronze piece of art, a sleepy-eyed sun. There were five others , all spaced evenly throughout the room. "Isn't that weird? Everything else in here looks like it started rusting ages ago, but these seem brand-new."

Zelda glanced back at their tracks in the dust. "They can't be…we're the first living things to enter this place for ages." She turned to Link, who started pushing some of the larger stones off the altar. "What are you doing?"

He rolled away a rock the size of his head. "Maybe if we clear off some of this junk, we can get a clue as to what used to be here. Maybe this is where we're supposed to put the Spirit Medallion."

After he cleared the altar, a man-sized tablet with odd, curvy runes carved into it, Zelda placed the Spirit Medallion on top of it. Nothing happened. "Maybe we have to do something else," she suggested. "Perhaps it has something to do with those suns."

"D'you suppose there's a hidden switch or something?" Link bent down over the side of the altar, and as he did, his lantern light bounced off something metallic in the pile of debris. He set the lantern down and wiped at the item with his shirt sleeve. As the dust and grime came off, he could see something etched in metal that looked just as new as the suns.

"Isn't that the Gerudo symbol?" Zelda asked, as Link attempted to slap excess dirt off his sleeve.

He gripped the edge of the metal and a large shield emerged, its silver face trimmed with red. "Sure does. Is this what's supposed to be on the altar?" he placed it face up on the altar, but again nothing happened.

"Hmm…" Zelda grasped the edge of the shield and tipped it upward. The light from the ceiling reflected on one of the suns. To their great surprise, its sleepy eyes opened and the circling flames spun slowly around the middle, as if by clockwork. They jumped in fright as a small door in the wall opened beneath it.

They waited on edge, Link's sword drawn. Nothing happened.

Zelda frowned. "It doesn't look like an exit, or even a secret room. What do you suppose is in there?"

Link picked up the lantern and kneeled at the entrance. "Only one way to find out."

"See anything?" Zelda asked as he wiggled through the opening.

"Nope, I don't see…oh, wait, I see bones."

"Bones?"

"Yeah, bones. And skulls with sharp canine teeth. I think this was a trap at some time." He backed out of the opening and whacked more dirt off his clothing. "No threat to us now."

Zelda turned back to the altar. "I think this is some kind of test; choose the wrong sun and a trap opens. Which means…"

Link stood, grinning. "Which means, like Ganondorf suggested, if we pick the right one we should find something good. Hopefully the traps are all useless by now, but there's no way to tell, so let's be careful."

It took three more tries to get the right one. On the first, nothing happened at all. The second one made them yelp as burning light shot out of the eyes; they heaved up the shield instinctively to protect themselves, and to their relief and surprise the light bounced off the shield and destroyed the sun.

On the third try, they heard a worn chime, sounding like a cacophony of cracked bells falling to the floor. Which, of course, it probably was. Underneath the sun a large passage opened, and Link let out an exclamation of triumph.

Just as they were about to enter, they heard an angry yell and a sound suspiciously close to an explosion.

"Looks like Ganondorf found something. Come on, let's make sure he's all right!" Link exclaimed, hefting the huge shield over his shoulder, and the two of them ran back through the abandoned halls.

--

"AAAaaaAAAuuugh!" A wreath of burning flame smacked Ganondorf right in the face, and he yelled out of frustration as much as out of pain. He had tried every magic spell he could think of on them, and his sword had merely passed through them as if they were phantoms. For their part, the twin witches merely laughed.

"You never were very good at casting native Gerudo magic," Kotake sneered, batting his energy ball away as if it were a fly.

"Only a matter of time until you stooped to using Hylian magic!" Koume snapped.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ganondorf growled, gasping. "My parents came from Reylisia. There's no way we could have met before."

Kotake turned to her sister. "Do you think it's possible that he could remember none of it?"

Koume shook her head. "He's Din's favorite toy. Why would she find another?"

"Explain yourselves!" Ganondorf ordered. "Are you confusing me with my ancestor? Or are you just insane?"

The red-haired one casually tossed a ball of flame up and down in her hand. "Maybe if she is tired of him, we can get something from her for disposing of him."

Before anyone could speak further, running footsteps echoed in the chamber and Link and Zelda fell out of the ceiling hole onto the sand. The twin witches' expressions switched from surprise to fury when they spotted the shield. Both let out a wail.

"Curse you!" they cried in unison. "That is ours, taken back from the foul demon-child that killed us! Blasted Hylians, neither that nor the power stolen by the Traitor Sage should ever leave this place!"

Both hurled their magic at Link, who held up the mirror just in time. Their spells ricocheted off the mirrored surface and hit them both full in the face. They backed up and swirled around the three travelers. "We won't fall for that again," Koume snarled.

"Blasted boy!" Kotake shrieked. "You won't have the same luck as your ancestor!"

"Wait, wait!" On an impulse, Zelda pulled the Spirit Medallion out of her pack. "Is this what was stolen?"

Both women dropped their angry expressions and stared. "Are you…returning that?" Kotake asked, her voice tinged with suspicion. "You, the soul of the damned Princess?"

Zelda laid it down on the sand. "Consider it a peace offering."

Ganondorf gingerly fingered an angry red burn on the side of his face. "I told you I was on a mission from the Goddesses," he muttered sullenly.

Koume picked up the sigil, Kotake leaning over her shoulder. Link set down the shield. "You can have this back too. I only took it because I figured nobody ever came in here anymore."

They frowned at him, but then both made a slight bow. "With this medallion, we can restore the Spirit Temple to its former glory," Kotake said. "If you truly are on a mission from the Goddesses, you can keep the shield. You may need it."

"Do you not know the story of the traitor who took it?" Koume asked.

Both children shook their heads. "All history of Hyrule has been purged by my uncle," Zelda informed them.

They looked surprised, then burst into laughter. "It's just as well," Kotake said with a hint of sarcasm. "That traitor was a hero in the legends of your people. Her name was Nabooru, and she went against the Gerudo King of the time to help the Hylians."

"Your ancestor," Koume said to Ganondorf. He merely nodded, as if to show he had already figured this out.

Kotake eyed them craftily. "I don't know why the Goddesses have you working together, but be warned…over the course of your journey, you may find out why you were on opposite sides to begin with. And then your fragile alliance may fail."

"Duly noted," Ganondorf muttered.

"Can you really restore the Temple with that?" Link asked. "How long will it take."

Koume made a cackling laugh. "It's already done."

As soon as she finished her sentence, the three travelers found themselves outside the Temple; fully restored and looking stable enough to last for another thousand years.


	7. Cursed Forest

Nobody said anything as several long minutes ticked by, the three travelers gazing with wonder upon the restored temple. "Truly, these sigils of the Goddesses have great power!" Zelda said at last.

"Indeed." Ganondorf kept his thoughts to himself, dwelling on the sorceress sisters' last words. He didn't know much about his ancestor, other than that he had been a troublemaker, attacking Hyrule in order to control the very same kind of power that Zelda now held in her pack.

Zelda had not been told the tales of her people, and Link did not know much of the country at all. Ganondorf decided to keep silent about it unless one of the others brought it up. He doubted it would cause a rift between them…they were all on the same side this time, right?

"Where to next?" Link asked. "Any idea where any of the other Temples might be?"

Zelda rummaged around in the pack. "I think we should save Light for last; I think that one goes in the Temple of Time, and that's within the castle town walls. We don't really want to be seen there now…Let's see, that leaves Forest, Fire, Shadow, and Water." She thought for a moment. "I have no idea what Shadow alludes to, and I don't know of anyone who would build a temple in the Lost Woods, the biggest forest we have. The Fire one probably alludes to the Gorons on Death Mountain…and the Water one probably points to the Zora at the river's beginning."

"Death Mountain sounds tough," Link noted. He hefted his shield. "If we can get stuff out of the other temples, stuff that helps us along, we should probably start at the easier ones first and work our way up."

"It was relatively easy here because my people were able to help us," said Ganondorf. "You can bet the Zora and Gorons won't be happy to see the mark of the Triforce on our hands, if the Hylian King has them under his control. If there is a temple in the forest, and no people to guard it, maybe that should be our next target."

"You're right." Zelda nodded appreciatively. "Could we stay a night at the desert fortress? I've never been to the Lost Woods, but I've heard it's at least a half day's ride from the castle."

Ganondorf nodded. "Of course."

---

Early the next morning, the three Bearers set out for the forest on horseback, and reached the eaves of the wood just before noon. Ganondorf frowned at the dirt path, which ended where they stood. "Don't your people ever come here?"

Zelda shook her head. "I heard they did, long ago. But the rumor is that this forest is cursed. People who enter never leave."

Link groaned. "Now you tell us."

Ganondorf shot him a sharp look. "The Goddesses guided us here…there must be a way in. Besides, no path we take on this quest will be safe."

"I know that," Link shot back with a touch of impatience. "I just like to have an idea of what I'm dealing with ahead of time."

"Only one way to find out." Zelda squared her shoulders and strode in. The other two followed close behind.

Link stared around the forest in wonder and a little trepidation. He had grown up in a wooded area, but it was nothing like this. Even in the darkest areas, his home had an orderly feel about it, animals going about their business unless provoked, trees standing like pillars holding up the canopy. It was almost like a large, airy house with many different inhabitants, some more easy to live with than others.

If this forest were to be compared to a house, it could only be an abandoned one. Brambles grew at odd angles, tall grass with razor-sharp edges planted itself where it could most conveniently tear clothing and skin. The scurrying in the undergrowth made Link feel as if he were being watched, and the air felt oppressive.

"I can't breathe in this place," Ganondorf grumbled, as if he had read Link's mind. Zelda stopped to untangle her dress, which had become hooked in the bramble for the fifth time.

"Leave this place." A disembodied voice spoke, soft but very clear.

"Who's there?" Ganondorf demanded, summoning a small ball of fire. "Show yourself, or I'll burn this place down to expose you!"

They heard a strange noise, like branches rubbing together, but more hollow. In addition they could hear the clink of metal, similar to armor. Link put his hand on his sword hilt.

A figure emerged from the brush; at first Link thought he was very thin, then realized with a shock that an animated skeleton walked toward them. It spoke with the voice of a ghost, dry and with a faraway echo. "Leave, intruders, or face the same fate I did."

"We didn't come to disturb you." Zelda fought to keep her voice steady. "We're looking for the temple. If you could tell us where it is, we'll get out of your way."

But the skeleton had a one-track mind. It drew its rusty blade and advanced, the cries of other fleshless jaws echoing throughout the forest. "You do not belong here. You will return from whence you came, or suffer our same fate."

Ganondorf immolated the speaker in a wreath of fire; but they could see dozens of skeletons rising up from the ground, advancing quickly. Link cut down three in quick succession, but six more took their place.

"I smell magic," Ganondorf snarled as Link scattered dry bones throughout the brambles. "Something is here, controlling them." He scanned the area with senses granted to him by sorcery, searching for a particular shape in the haze. He picked up something, faint but unmistakable, and threw his fireball into the horde, running after it.

"Aha! Gotcha!" He held up a very small person, and then swatted at a large bug hovering around its face. Immediately the skeletons fell to the ground, nothing more than piles of bones.

"Lemme go!" their tormentor cried, in a high child's voice. Zelda and Link ran up to them, surprised to see a tiny person dressed in green, shaking his small fists at Ganondorf.

"It's a fairy!" Zelda exclaimed, pointing not to the child but the iridescent bug flying around his head. "I've never seen one before!" "What's wrong with you?" Link demanded. "Do you always attack people minding their own business?"

The little person pulled a pouting face. "No strangers are allowed in our forest! Not since the last time! They took our friends and we never saw them again!"

"We're not here to hurt you," Zelda said in a calm, soothing voice. "I don't know what happened in the past, but we mean you no harm."

"Hmph! You're Hylians. The ones that took our friends were Hylian too. But I've never seen anyone like you before," the boy added as an aside to Ganondorf.

"You wouldn't have; my people do not like the forest. Believe me, if this were not a grave situation, I would not be here," Ganondorf assured him. "Who are you? What are you?"

The boy waited to answer until Ganondorf set him down on the ground again. "I'm a Kokiri, duh. My name's Mako, and this is my fairy, Maddie."

"Did your fairy cast the magic that set the skeletons on us?" Link asked.

Mako shook his head. "We can control the Stalfos, if we really need to. The Stalfos were once people, but they got lost in the forest and became monsters. Letting us control them is how they pay us back for trespassing."

Ganondorf scowled down at him. "Twisted little thing, aren't you?"

Mako squared his shoulders and stared up at him, Maddie twittering around his head. "We are the guardians of the forest. And if you'd seen what we'd seen recently, you'd do the same thing."

"And what is that, exactly?" Zelda asked.

"Lots of things. Strangers came in and cut down trees, kidnapped Kokiri, and hunted the animals. Many years ago we had an agreement with the Hylians, that kept them out of our forest unless they had some special need, but they just barged in one day and started wrecking everything." He pouted like a small child. "They wouldn't even talk to our leader, the Great Deku Tree! They didn't believe he talked! If he couldn't talk, how could he tell such good stories?"

Link shook his head, trying to clear it. "Look, we'll get out of your way as soon as possible…we're actually trying to help. We need to bring something to the forest Temple…do you know where that is?"

The Kokiri sat down and thought. "I don't know where it might be…I heard we used to have one, years and years ago. It's probably overgrown by now."

"The last Temple we visited was in pretty bad shape," Link noted. "Yours probably is as well."

Mako jerked his head up upon sudden inspiration. "There's a place where nothing grows, near the mountain's edge," he said. "We never go there. That might be where the temple is."

"Good enough," said Ganondorf. "Just point us in the right direction."

Mako's mouth dropped open. "You really intend to go there?"

"Of course, you fool. I told you I would not be here if it weren't for a good reason."

"Hey!" Maddie sailed into the air and circled each of the three travelers. "Look, Mako! They have the sacred mark!"

Zelda instinctively hid her hand, then held it out in puzzlement. "Sacred? Not cursed?"

"What does it mean to you?" Link asked the Kokiri.

Mako shook his head. "Not much…other than you probably should see our leader. The mark is important…and a good thing. The Deku Tree could tell you more." He waved his hand, beckoning toward them as he ran off into the forest. "Follow me, I'll bring you to him!"

"No tricks now," Link warned.

The fairy-child led them over a long, long deer path that seemed to turn back and forth , with no set direction. Ganondorf glanced nervously over his shoulder, apprehensive that they were being led into a trap.

"Are we really going to see a talking tree?" Link asked Zelda dubiously.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've never heard of such a thing…but this Kokiri is the only lead we've got on the Forest Temple."

Finally, Mako led them into a clearing, where they started in surprise upon seeing an entire town of the little fairy-people, who stared at them just as hard as they stared back.

"Are you from the Outside?" one of them barked.

"What of it?" Ganondorf demanded. Several of them scattered.

"They have the holy mark," Mako explained. "I'm taking them to see the Deku Tree."

This caused a lot of commotion, with packs of fairy-children running toward and congregating around them, yelling in shrill high voices. Ganondorf clapped his hands over his ears.

Finally, they came upon a hulking growth that had once been a proud tree. Its side had been gouged by axes, its branches had been singed off, and bark peeled off several angry-looking lesions. Yet the thing actually had a face carved in the trunk; a face that spoke as they approached.

"Eh? It has been years, but…I have seen two of you before." Its voice sounded raspy, like bark rubbing together. "Mmm, yes… but you travel together? I remember one friend and one foe, and never did the twain meet when I last saw them alive…"

"If you're going to speak nonsense," Ganondorf growled, but Zelda cut him off.

"We've come to restore the Forest Temple," she announced, and held up her hand. "One of the Kokiri brought us here when he saw the marks we bore. Does this mean something to you?"

"Ah, ah!" The tree's voice brightened considerably. "Yes, the Triforce mark! But…you travel willingly together?"

"Is there something wrong with that?" Link asked.

"Hmm, hmm…I sense no ill will from the Bearer of Power. Highly unusual…but then I remember so little. I both have and have not seen you before. A tree, you see, can be reborn again and again from its own seeds."

"Are you trying to tell us you're immortal?" Ganondorf demanded with a healthy dose of skepticism.

"Well, yes and no," the Deku Tree answered. "I remember some things of times past, but I am not quite the same, after all. In any case…you are Triforce bearers, and you wish to see the Forest Temple. It has been many years since I have heard of such a thing. Has something happened at Hyrule Castle?"

"My uncle has taken the throne," Zelda explained, trying to disguise the sadness and disgust in her voice. "He has banned any knowledge of the Triforce or Hyrule's history, even from me."

"My, my, a Bearer of Wisdom bereft of knowledge? That will never do…I will have to give you some of mine. The Forest Temple is located north north-west of here. I can keep the forest green using my own magic, but I have suffered so much over time that I cannot extend my energy that far. As you move, you will see the greenery die around you. Then you will know you are getting close."

"Thank you," Ganondorf said stiffly, then turned to leave.

"Wait a minute," said Link. "If he's the 'Bearer of Power' and Zelda's the 'Bearer of Wisdom', do I have a title too?"

"Goodness, yes," the tree exclaimed, dithering a little. Zelda wondered if the cuts in its side had damaged the water flow to its head. "The Bearer of Courage, of course. Three pieces of a whole."

"This whole?" Zelda held up her marked hand again.

"Yes, yes. The Triforce. You do not know this? Things must have gotten bad indeed…"

"Don't worry about it," Link assured the tree cheerfully. "We'll take care of it, now that we know where to find the next Temple."

"One final word of warning," the tree called after them as they started to walk away. "Er…two, actually. First, only those with pure hearts can navigate their way through the Lost Woods. Second, in hard times the Temple would become infested with monsters. I'm sure this is no exception."

"We'll keep that in mind," Ganondorf muttered.

"I'll bring you to the side of the village closest to where the temple should be," Mako volunteered. "But I won't go any further than that. It's gotten scary in that area."

Zelda smiled at him. "We'll manage. Thank you."

----

A few steps into the thicket, Link pulled Ganondorf's arm back. "Hey, we have to think of how we're going to do this."

Ganondorf scowled down at him. "What do you mean? We walk till there's no trees and there it is."

"No, there's more to it." Zelda gave the big man a worried look. "The tree said that 'only those pure of heart' can navigate through the Lost Woods. And, well, if you don't mind me sounding like an old man…Power corrupts. And your ancestor…"

Ganndorf rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, my ancestor, my ancestor. I'm not my ancestor. As long as I can provide for my people, I don't have any other ambitions. And the best way I can help them now is by helping you."

The two children exchanged glances, and he made an impatient huff. "Well, I think it's a little egotistical for any of us to assume they have a pure heart. But if you are convinced I'll get lost, then you can choose the path. And leave some breadcrumbs. Or something."

"All right then, who should lead?" Zelda asked.

Ganondorf pointed to Link. "Him. You're too indecisive."

Link led the way, on a steady march under the dark forest eaves. Zelda followed close behind, with Ganondorf bringing up the rear, glancing around uneasily. He hadn't liked any part of the forest since he'd entered, but there was a strange silence to this part, as if even animals didn't like to come here.

Out of the eerie silence came a faint tune, wafting in between the trees as the three attempted to navigate through what had once been a hedge maze. The bushes towered high above the stone walls they had once flanked, but large holes yawned in between the lower branches. Link and Zelda slipped through easily, with Ganondorf breaking much of the shrubbery in the process.

Link fell through the hedge with a splash, up to his neck in slimy green water. Ganondorf burst into laughter. "Eh, being the leader isn't always the best thing, is it?"

Scowling, Link heaved himself out of the water. "It would be a lot easier if I could see where we're going."

With much stumbling and grumbling, Ganondof scaled one of the crumbly stone walls. "Why get lost just because it's a maze? Better to go over."

Both children saw the truth in this and Link scrambled up as well, helping Zelda behind him.

The trees did not grow so thick here, and after turning round Ganondorf pointed ahead of them. "See there! A stone structure, covered with dead vines. That must be the Temple."

He took one step forward and fell straight into the ground below with a loud yell. Both heard a faint splash, and Link sniggered in spite of himself.

"Are you all right?" Zelda called.

"Yeah," came Ganondorf's irritated voice. "I fell into a…well, I don't really know what I fell into, it almost looks like it was once a bath or spring of some kind, but it's pretty scummy now. There's some light up ahead, I'm going to see if it comes out near the Temple. You two stay put."

"Okay," Zelda called, and listened to the man's grouchy cursing disappear off to the side.

"Hello," said a voice, and both Link and Zelda jerked their heads up to see a scarecrow-like person, the same size as a Kokiri but dressed in odds and ends of fabric and plant matter. "Want to play a game?"


	8. Forest Temple

Ganondorf flicked the slime off his hands as he walked toward the light. He bristled like a wet cat, and had the same love of water. Once he got to the light shaft, he cursed again, for it was too small for him to squeeze through.

Conjuring up a ball of fire, he walked back to the opening where he had fallen through. "Link, Zelda, it's going to take me a few minutes to get out of here. Perhaps you should go on ahead to the temple." He listened for a few moments, but heard no acknowledgement from either. Scowling, he yelled, "Hey! Are you listening?! Don't tell me you've wandered off!"

He listened, hard, and his ears picked up a soft, shrill scream. He recognized it as Zelda's.

"Curse them," he said aloud. "Can't they do anything themselves?" He scanned the dark pit for anything to help him up to the entrance. Some tiled ruins lay about, the last remains of the bath or whatever it had been, but they were too heavy to move and too short for him to stand on.

"If you help us, we'll help you." A tiny, hoarse voice piped up somewhere near Ganondorf's feet. He jumped ever so slightly, then lowered his flame down toward the floor. "Who's there?"

A grotesque-looking creature, covered in furry slime, kneeled at his feet. It had long, green, dragonfly-like wings folded over its back, which dragged along the ground as if broken. Its matted hair held strips of algae and small red mites, that trundled down its neck and over its green-stained body.

More of these creatures walked toward him, with drawn, weary faces and emaciated bodies. "Help us and we'll help you," the one at his feet repeated.

"All right," Ganondorf replied. "What do you want me to do? Speak quickly, now!"

The creature pointed to its left, at the far wall, which had hard-packed earth instead of tile. "Our spring was covered up. We have no magic without it. But if you punch through to the water, we can help you escape."

Ganondorf walked over to the wall, holding up his little flame. He frowned at the gritty earth. "I may look strong, but I don't think I can drill a hole with my bare fists."

"You have Power," the little algae-imp stated, pointing to the back of his hand. Do you not know how to use it?"

Glancing at the mark, Ganondorf said, "Not really…but then I haven't tried."

"You will understand, once you try."

Skeptical, Ganondorf summoned a shield of energy around his fist, to protect it from fracturing upon hitting the hard earth. To his surprise, the mark glowed ever so slightly and he felt a rush of strength. He slammed his fist into the wall, and pulled it out of the six-inch hole he had created with much satisfaction.

He drew upon the mark's power again, this time channeling it into both hands. The magic rushed through his veins like adrenaline, spurring him on and unleashing an unbridled joy in the back of his mind, something that cried greedily as he punched the earth for more power, more, ecstasy, thrill, insatiable hunger, unstoppable force…

"Yowch!" He jerked out of his trance as something bit him, hard, on his marked hand. He raised his other hand to swat the offender and stopped completely, jolted back to earth.

A bright, shining creature hovered there, its dragonfly wings now pearly and translucent, its hair clean, its body so light he could barely see its outline. Another fairy, like the one the Kokiri had.

It gestured toward the hole in the wall, where sparkling clear water now gushed into the little cavern. "You have set our spring running again, and for that we thank you. You must be careful with your power, or it will consume you once more."

Ganondorf stared at the cavern, which had reverted back to its original form, clean pastel tiles surrounding a pool of clear water. The rest of the fairies hung twinkling in the air. "That which is beautiful can be easily tainted. It is easier to tear something apart, to let it lie in ruin, than it is to rebuild again. But anyone can fall victim to the darkness, even the just. Do you understand?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "I understand you offered to get me out of here," he said at last. "I have a couple of kids to look after."

He found himself in a swirling mass of sparkling lights as the fairies lifted him up and out of the cavern. "If ever you or your friends become weary in battle," said the only one that had spoken this entire time, "return here, and we will heal your wounds."

Ganondorf brightened. "That's good to know."

"We will assist you in any way you can, Chosen Three, as long as you work towards Hyrule's resurrection. Go now!"

---

Link hacked the giant spider apart to make sure, absolutely sure, that it was really, really dead. "Ooh, that was a close one!" the disembodied voice of the demon-child echoed in the halls of the forgotten Temple.

Zelda hissed through her teeth, an uncharacteristic show of anger that had been bubbling to the surface ever since the Skullkid - as he had introduced himself - had taken her pack of sigils. Whether they wanted to "play" or not, they were forced to take part in his game, or forfeit their quest.

"Where next?" Link asked Zelda. He had gotten lost very early on, but she didn't lose her sense of direction.

"We haven't tried this door yet." She opened it and stepped into what at one point might have been a garden courtyard, but it was brown and desolate now. Long-dead ivy hung on the walls, its curled, brown leaves turning to dust at a gentle touch. Another scummy pool sat on one end, the algae the only greenery they had seen since entering.

"Look out!" Zelda dodged to the side as a purplish-black carnivorous plant jerked its head toward them, gnashing its teeth. Zelda had read about plants that ate insects because their soil was too poor to support green life, but she had never heard of anything like this.

Link cut the mouth from its stem, then sank his sword into the bud. The plant wriggled feebly, then lay still. Flicking bright purple sticky sap from his sword, he turned and asked the same question he had been asking since they entered. "Where next?"

Zelda pointed. "It looks like there once was a wooden ladder, that led to the balcony up there. But there's no way to get up there now."

Eerie giggles echoed throughout the room. Link rolled his eyes. "I think that's our little playmate's way of saying we need to find a way up there."

"You need a special tool to do that." Both Hylians whirled round to face the owner of a new voice. A Kokiri girl stood there, with a friendly smile on her face; but they could see right through her to the wall on the other side of the room.

Link's eyes bulged out of his head. "Are you a ghost? Who are you?"

"In life, I was Saria, the Forest Sage," she replied with a strange, kindly melancholy. "Even after my death, I guarded this place with the power of my spirit. But my spirit has grown weak, and the Temple is now dying."

"We're trying to restore it," Zelda informed her, "but the Skullkid from the forest took our sigils. We need to get them back."

"Oh, he did, did he?" A glimpse of a smile hovered around her lips. "I suppose some things never change. Well, I can help you get them back, if you like. It's the least I can do."

They all jumped as the low, booming voice of a man burst through the tomblike silence of the Temple. "Link! Zelda! Where are you?"

"We're in here!" Link called back after opening the door again.

They heard the jingle of armor and finally Ganondorf stepped through the door, frowning like a thundercloud. "Are you no better than ordinary children?" he admonished them. "I told you to wait!"

"Our sigils were stolen," Zelda told him. "By some creature…a little demon-child. He doesn't seem dangerous, but he is quite a nuisance."

Ganondorf scanned the room. "Well, we had to come in here anyway. I'll just have to give that kid a piece of my mind when…Who's that?"

As he pointed to Saria, the ghost flinched, her eyes already wide and staring.

"That is the guardian spirit of this Temple," Zelda informed him. "Saria, are you all right?"

The ghost wavered slightly, then settled back down to her former manner. "Yes. It is just…your companion, he resembles the one who killed me, the first time."

Link's eyebrows went up. "The first time?"

"There are many here who have some special role to play, ordained to them by the Goddesses," Saria explained. "I am one, and so is the Skullkid. And as are you."

"So you know that we're…" Zelda trailed off.

"I don't know all the details," Saria admitted. "I just know that I have met ones like you before." She gave Link a small smile that he didn't return. "Come…I said I would help you find a tool that you needed. This way."

Saria floated over to a small switch near the pool. "This drains the pool and leads to the underground chamber. The item you need is there."

Link pressed the button and the scummy water slowly whirled down an unseen pipe. They descended down the ladder that appeared, slipping a little on green slime. Link got to the chest first and opened it, a heavy metal contraption stored inside. He lifted it with some difficulty. "Er…what is it?"

"It's called a Hookshot," Sarai's ghost appeared suddenly from behind, making them all jump. "You wear it on your hand, and there's a trigger that shoots a grappling hook. Then you press the trigger again for the chain to pull you up."

Link climbed the stairs and strapped the object onto his hand. He aimed it at the high door, then pressed the trigger. With a loud rattling sound, the pointed tip burst from Link's hand and buried itself into the wall just above the door.

"YAAAAAHHHH!" Upon hitting the trigger again, Link flew through the air and his scream ended abruptly when he collided with the wall, landing on a small balcony in front of the door. Zelda ran to the side of the wall, while Ganondorf nearly fell over laughing.

"I'm all right," Link announced, getting gingerly to his feet.

"What about us?" Ganondorf demanded. Link dropped the hookshot so Ganondorf could catch it. He fastened it to his arm, then turned to Zelda. "Excuse me," he said quickly, then lifted her up into the crook of one arm. He fired the hookshot and suddenly Zelda found herself on the ledge next to Link.

Saria floated through the door, so they opened it and followed her, ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice. They entered a long, long, hallway, filled with…nothing. As they reached the other end, they noticed what looked like a human eye staring out from a diamond-shaped gold decoration over the doorway. Tall enough to reach it, Ganondorf tapped the eye and it shut. But nothing happened. "I wonder what this was for," he muttered.

"It was a method of keeping intruders out," Saria explained. "The magic that powered this temple would make the unwanted visitor lose all sense of direction, as if he were falling in a dream. An arrow to the eye would set things right again." She sighed heavily. "But the magic that lived here has thinned, and my own feeble power is not enough."

`"Intriguing," Ganondorf said with great interest. "Ingenious, the people who built these temples." He tapped the eye again out of curiosity.

"Well, if we can find the Skullkid and our sigils, we can set this place right again, just as we did with the Spirit Temple."

Saria's melancholy face brightened. "You have already restored a Temple? That is good news!"

"Where next?" Link asked. Zelda fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"This way." Saria floated down a flight of stairs. "This is the central chamber. I'm pretty sure Skullkid is in here." She floated through the door with a hello, that suddenly broke into a terrified scream.

The Three burst into the room to see Saria curled on the floor, in the middle of a huge room framed with moldy oil paintings. Before her stood a horse with demonic eyes, and astride it was…Ganondorf?

It looked exactly like him, but instead of a face it had a horned skull, with glowing eyes that mirrored the horse's. As both Link and Ganondorf strode forward, weapons in hand, the Phantom raised its spear and swiped at them. It missed, and spurred its horse forward…into one of the paintings.

"What on earth?" Ganondorf demanded. "Come out, impostor! What sorcery is this?!"

Link tried to pat the trembling Saria on the ground, but his hand went right through her. "Saria, it's okay, we'll take care of it!" He wondered how a ghost could be afraid, as she was already dead.

"Little help?!" Ganondorf demanded as the Phantom swiped at him. Ganondorf cut through it with his sword, but it had no effect, and rode back into another painting without harm.

"Link!" Zelda bent down next to him and Saria. "If the magic eyes could be put out with arrows, maybe magic demons in this temple can too!"

Link pulled the small bow from his shoulder and a crude, hand-fletched arrow from its place on his belt. He let loose on the demon, which cried out in pain as the arrow found its mark. When it leaped into another painting, the arrow bounced off and landed on the ground. Link quickly snatched it and loaded his bow once more.

Ganondorf ripped a curve of wood from the sheath of his broadsword and wrapped a thick string around the tips. He dug a bolt of metal from his pocket and shook it once, the collapsible material straightening into an arrow. Both he and Link fired at once as the demon emerged once more from the painting.

"Ow!" A childish voice cried out in pain, and suddenly the demon disappeared. In its place a small figure sat on the floor, pulling the arrows from its body without any apparent ill effects. "That was fun!" he exclaimed, grinning up at them all.

"Am I to assume that this is the Skullkid?" Ganondorf asked dryly, as the other two stared with open mouths. Saria uncurled from her ball on the floor and stood, then wagged her finger at the child.

"You scared me to death!" she admonished him.

Completely unruffled, the Skullkid stood on its head and laughed at her. "Can't scare you to death, you're already dead!"

"You know what I mean. You took that form on purpose!"

Skullkid giggled. "Uh huh, it was the scariest one I could think of. I saw these three chasing off the Skulltillas and everything else, I had to think of something good."

Zelda cleared her throat. "Um excuse me…but since we won the game, you should give us our sigils back."

Skullkid pulled the bag out of nowhere. "Here you go! It was a good game. You should come back and play again!"

"Yeah, that'll happen," Link muttered under his breath.

Ganondorf snatched the pack before Zelda could take it. He rifled through it, then held out the Forest sigil to Saria. "Take this in return for whatever my ancestor did."

She held out her hands in awe and relief. Amazingly enough, it did not pass through her transparent hands. In fact, she seemed to grow slightly more solid. "You're really returning this?"

"Well, me and the other two. They did most of the work, anyway."

Saria held it to her chest and bowed. "Thank you all. With this, I can restore the Temple to its former glory."

They blinked, and found themselves outside the Temple entrance. They almost did not recognize it; they could barely see the walls for the creeping ivy and lush greenery. Bushes along the sides of the walls bore bright red flowers, butterflies hovering around them. They could hear birdsong in the eaves of the trees above them.

"Amazing," Zelda said breathlessly, unable to speak further. Link stood mute.

Ganondorf made a face. "It's still suffocating, just in a different way." He gestured toward the others to follow. "Come, I found a place where fairies live. Perhaps it will come in handy if any of us are injured."

"Oh!" Zelda reached into her pocket and pulled out a little bottle. "We can catch one and store it in this."

Ganondorf stared at her. "It's perfectly acceptable for people to imprison fairies in bottles? And they say my ancestor was the cruel one."


	9. The Patriarch

After they had healed their wounds and stocked up on fairies, they looked over their inventory of sigils again. "Water, Fire, Shadow, and Light," Zelda muttered. "The first two probably point to the Zora and Gorons. Maybe we should go to the Zora first; they usually keep to themselves, from what I understand, whereas you see more of the Gorons in town." She flushed slightly. "At least, that's what I've heard…I've never been allowed to walk around the castle, much less the castle town."

`"You should go to the Gorons first. You're closer to their domain." They all stood in surprise as an irritatingly familiar voice singed their ears. A few leaves rattled down from the trees, and the Skullkid fell in the middle of them.

Ganondorf grasped him from the collar of his leaf-and-twig tunic. "We're not playing any more games, so run along."

"I'm not playing, I swear!" The Skullkid twisted around in Ganondorf's hand until he fell to the ground again. Sprinting to a set of boulders on their left, he said, "There's a passage through here. If you pull up the bomb flowers, you can make a hole."

Link walked over and began tugging at the grass fronds. "What do you mean?"

"Careful, boy." Ganondorf pushed him away and yanked a bomb flower out of the ground. It made a hissing noise, and they backed away as the sound grew louder. Finally, with a loud bang, a hole appeared in the mountainside.

Zelda brushed bits of stone from her dress, trying to hide how rattled the explosion from such a benign-looking plant had made her. Smiling at the Skullkid, she said, "Thank you. There's no way we would have found this by ourselves."

The Skullkid reached for something on his back and handed Link a fine ash bow. "You can have this, too. I found it in the Temple. It used to have arrows to go with it, but I don't have them 'cause I lost them when I was playing. There's people that sell them, though."

Link took it, puzzled. "Why are you being so nice to us all of a sudden?"

The Skullkid traced patterns in the dirt with his toe. "Well, it gets kind of boring when you're eternal and you've got a very small part to play, you know. So …I decided to add to it a bit."

--

Ganondorf walked ahead of the other two, holding out a small flame in his hand to light the way. The tunnel was smooth, as if at one point it had been used frequently, but their footprints clearly showed in the dust and fallen stones.

"What do Gorons look like?" Link asked.

"They're big," Zelda told him. "They look like big rocks with faces. They have really tough skin, and they're really heavy…they can't run, so to travel fast they roll along the ground." She paused. "I read that."

"You're not really all that far off," Ganondorf said, his voice echoing in the cavern so that he did not have to turn back to address them. "Where did you get all this information, if you weren't allowed to know of the outside world?"

Zelda flushed. "I persuaded my nursemaid to bring me books," she mumbled.

"That doesn't sound all that bad," Ganondorf said. "What did you do, give her a fatal case of puppy eyes?"

Zelda's face grew redder still. "No…" she said softly. "I just…kept thinking of ways to…to make her think that her job might be in danger if she didn't….that I would do things and she…would….get blamed…"

Both of the others stared at her, Link incredulous, Ganondorf with a kind of pleased surprise. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," Ganondorf assured her. "One of the hallmarks of wisdom is knowing when there truly are no other options."

The ground trembled slightly. Seeing the alert look on the others' faces, Zelda said, "The mountain is still active. But there's no danger from lava. You can tell when the mountain is dangerous…the sky above it would be filled with ash. I read that too."

The mountain rumbled again, like a hungry beast. "Even so," Ganondorf said as he let his little flame shine down a side passage, "we should be careful. I've never been in a place like this before, and I don't know what kind of dangers it can hold." Link drew his sword.

A rare look of fear crept over Ganondorf's face and he changed his fire to a glowing orb. "Yes, there could be creatures in here, Link, but bad air is a danger too. It could blow us up or put us to sleep…your sword won't be of an use in that kind of battle. I should have thought of this sooner, but this really is my first time here. Let me know if either of you smell anything funny or feel tired."

They crept forward in trepidation, jumping as the mountain growled again, louder this time. It grumbled like steady thunder, increasing in intensity. Ganondorf motioned for the other two to stop and stepped several feet forward, lighting up as much as he could of the dark.

Suddenly he turned on his heel and fled toward them. "Run!" he commanded, the roar down the tunnel already drowning him out.

"What is it?!" Link demanded, trying to keep his sword steady as he nearly tripped over several rocks in his way.

"A Goron! It'll crush us if you don't keep moving!"

Zelda glanced over her shoulder and saw a round rolling ball barreling toward them, filling up the entire channel. She tripped over her own two feet and felt herself being yanked violently upward as Ganondorf pulled her from the ground, still running.

Suddenly Ganondorf plucked Link from the path as well and ducked with the three of them into a side passage. The Goron rolled harmlessly past them, but Ganondorf didn't give them time to catch their breath. "Hurry, before he realizes what we've done!"

They threw themselves out of the side passage and tore down the hall, deeper into the mountain. Along the way Ganondorf marked side passages that they could duck into if needed. Twice they were accosted by rolling Gorons, but as neither one attempted to hail or threaten them, they had no idea of they were being chased or merely in the way.

Suddenly they burst into a huge cavern, at least twice the size of the main courtyard in the Gerudo Fortress, with a series of side passages leading off five different floors. They skidded to a halt, large stones coming to life all around them as the previously unaware Gorons sensed a threat in their inner sanctum. Two stooped and ripped up armfuls of bomb flowers, throwing them at the trio. Ganondorf stopped them with a magic shield, but more Gorons appeared both above and below them, stamping their feet and smacking fists against hands in a show of aggression.

"Hold!" a deep, booming voice echoed throughout the cavern. Another Goron, at least a head taller than the others with an odd headpiece that mimicked spiky hair, stepped forward as the others parted around him. He stopped in front of the travellers, hands on hips, staring down at them with obsidian eyes. "I am Darunia, the Goron patriarch, named for the most famous of our ancestors." He squinted at them with an appraising eye. "Two Hylian children and a Gerudo? What is such a strange trio doing here, harassing my people like robbers and brigands?"

Ganondorf opened his mouth to speak, but Zelda stepped forward. "Patriarch Darunia, I am Zelda of the Royal Family."

A slow, calculating look crept over the Goron's face. "The Hidden Princess, eh? Do you come seeking asylum?"

"We are here on a quest." She dug into her pack and produced the Fire sigil. "The powers of the Goddesses have been out of balance for many years, and we have come to restore them. We need to place this item in the deepest part of the Fire Temple."

Darunia's eyes shifted from her to the other two. "And them?"

"This is Link, and Ganondorf. They have both been with me for the entirety of this quest."

"Your small friend has a good name, that of a famous hero." Darunia's eyes narrowed. "But the Gerudo men have been known throughout history to cause trouble for Hyrule…especially those with _that_ name."

Ganondorf stepped up within a few inches of Darunia, actually able to stare down at him. "Can you live up to the name of _your_ ancestor? If not, do not judge me by mine."

Darunia stared right back, as immobile as stone, even more so than the other Gorons. "If you truly wish to aid the Princess in her quest, then you will leave her in my safekeeping. We will provide you with protective garments for you to wear, as even a desert-dweller would not survive long in the depths of the mountain."

"I have no problem with that," Ganondorf said.

Darunia gave him a mirthless smile. "I'm not finished yet. If you come back without the boy, you will not get the Princess back." His voice dropped an octave. "And we will kill you."

Ganondorf's face registered surprise, immediately followed by a smirk. "I've already been baby-sitting these two children and helped get them out of the clutches of Zelda's insane uncle. The boy will not be harmed - by myself or anyone else, by _my _will, not yours."

"As long as we agree on the outcome." Darunia turned and motioned for the three to follow him. They passed a long line of skeptical Gorons as they walked to the Patriarch's chambers. Darunia shut the solid stone door with a dull thump and began rifling through a cabinet off to the side.

"We generally keep to ourselves, and have few visitors," Darunia explained. "But for the few non-Gorons who wish to make a pilgrimage to the Temple of Fire, we long ago had Hylian mages put together a magic garment that gives the wearer protection against the heat." He pulled out two old but well-worn tunics, one small and one large.

He gave the small one to Link. "This may even be a little big, you can wear it over your normal clothing. "As for you," he said as he handed Ganondorf the large one, "It may be a little snug. You will have to wear it under your armor."

"Fair enough," said Ganondorf, and began to discard the metal surrounding his body until Zelda made a startled little squeak. He stopped abruptly with a confused look. "Oh…I forgot that…never mind. I'll put it on later." He draped it over his arm.

Darunia laid an enormous hand on Zelda's tiny shoulder. "The Princess will stay with me. We have much to discuss about her kingdom." She glanced up at him in surprise. "Do not bother looking for her here; you will not see her until you both return from the Temple."

"Very well,. Come, boy," Ganondorf said to Link, who gave him an irritated look before following.

"Good luck!" Zelda called after them.

--

Ganondorf struggled with the tunic, which ripped slightly as he shoved his thick arms through the sleeves. "I'm getting tired of this obsession with my ancestor," he grumbled. "I find it funny that they can all remember me, but much of the rest of the Triforce lore is lost to the general population."

Link waited impatiently at the entrance to the Fire Temple. "Well, maybe that's why Zelda's uncle was able to persuade people that it was dangerous…people like you kept trying to steal it."

Ganondorf merely grunted. Once he had replaced all of his armor, Link opened the enormous stone doors, each of which must have weighed many times more than him and yet opened smoothly. He did not pause to think about it but darted inside the temple, Ganondorf right behind him.

--

"What is this place?" Zelda asked breathlessly. She and Darunia stood in a huge cavern, the walls sparkling with minerals of many colors. Some of the stones seemed to produce light of their own, giving off eerie glows. As if to accent them, jet-black rocks with smooth, reflective surfaces doubled the light and color.

Darunia permitted himself a smile. "This is a stockpile of sorts, all of the tastiest rocks that we Gorons eat. We only come here every once in a while to add some delicacy to a feast, or in times of famine when we can find a buyer who will trade many more stones of lesser quality. None but I and one of my brothers knows where it is and how to get here."

"It's beautiful."

"Thank you." He offered her a seat on a chair made from rose granite and sat on the floor himself. "Hidden Princess, do you find it odd that we would threaten your company?"

She wavered. "A little…I was never allowed outside the castle, but I was able to procure some books on matters of state, and it said that the Gorons were friendly and trusting to a fault."

He nodded. "It is half true," Darunia explained. "On things of little import, we can afford to be trusting. Of course, most of these are of great import to the reigning Hyrulean King. Do you understand?"

Zelda nodded. "I think so. You might not care about the prices of bomb materials, but you're not going to bend on the price of quality stones, if you barter with the Crown."

"Yes, very good. For the most part, we are a friendly people, because we feel secure here in our mountain. But if that were to change, so would we. Do you understand that?"

"Yes…you only feel the need to be aggressive if threatened."

"Indeed." Darunia jerked his head in the general direction of Hyrule Castle. "We generally do not interfere in the business of the other races, but your uncle's bizarre attacks on anything connected to the Triforce has led me to watch them with a wary eye. I have been speaking secretly with the King Zora, and we will provide any assistance we can to you. If I had known the Gerudo were on our side, I would have included them as well."

Zelda's eyes widened. "Oh, Darunia! It is so good to hear we are not alone in this."

He smiled. "Though the Hylians may not want to admit it, we have always played an integral role in the affairs of the Triforce. Now…since it will likely take your friends a long time to return from the Temple, allow me to attempt to undo some of the damage…and fill you in on all the things that a Bearer of Wisdom should know by now."


	10. Fiery Valor

Ganondorf and Link felt the roasting heat wash over them as they entered the temple. Link exhaled in agony, and Ganondorf coughed. "Well, Darunia was right," he grumbled. "It's at least as hot as the desert at noon. Why anyone besides the Gorons would worship here is beyond me. At least our Temple shades its visitors from the heat."

Link took a quick look round the chamber. It wasn't nearly as large as the Goron's city center, but it had a similar dome-shaped roof hewn out of the living rock. The obvious source of the heat bubbled and frothed in front of them, in shallow pools on either side of a raised pathway. Stones with higher melting points had been placed in the shallow pools at intervals, and on their tops stood statues of Din,. She stood nude from the waist up and rivulets of lava forced through the statue ran down her head as hair. The room could have been described as beautiful, had it not been so uncomfortable and deadly to anyone without the special tunic.

Without any warning, Link sprinted across the path toward the door on the other side of the room. "Be careful, boy!" Ganondorf shouted after him.

As if on cue, a fire-lizard with obsidian-black scales emerged from one of the pools. With a hissing intake of breath, it prepared to spout fire at Link. But Link merely walloped the creature over the head with his sword and leaped above it, leaving it looking sheepish and confused. As if to restore its pride, it turned on the pursuing Ganondorf, which rendered it mute with a wave of his hand.

The door ahead of them was locked. Link stuck his hands in the lock and began looking around the room. "It wants a key," he said absently as Ganondorf walked up to him.

"Obviously. It has a magic barrier on it, too, one that I can't break without the key. Not really set up for pilgrimages, is it?"

Link scanned the room again, then pointed. "There's a chest over there. See it?" He pointed to one side of the room, with the yawning pool of lava between them.

"Good luck getting it, kid."

"Hold on, let me think." Link sat down on the floor and assumed a concentrating expression. Ganondorf sighed and scanned the room for anything to stand on. Had the statues of Din not been covered in lava, they might have used those to traverse the pool. He had a few choice things to say to Darunia about where the Gorons kept their keys.

Suddenly Link sprang up and took the rope they kept in their pack, which Zelda had given him before they parted. It had been tied together where it had split apart from Ganondorf's weight in the Spirit Temple. Link tied one end of the rope to an arrow he had found in the woods. He held the other end of the rope up to Ganondorf. "You're tall; hold this up as high as you can."

Curious to see what Link had dreamed up, Ganondorf did so. Link shot an arrow he had found in the forest across the room, the point burying itself in a semisolid rubbery substance on the wall near the chest, which lay spattered about the room like lichen from hell. "Now give me a boost," Link ordered.

Ganondorf frowned at him. "You're not going to try and traverse the rope over to the chest, are you?" Darunia's warning rang in his ears.

"Sure. I did it all the time at home. Well, not with lava…I used a rope bridge to cross the canyon to get to the river."

"The canyon?!"

"Well, it wasn't wide, but it was deep. Now help me up, okay? Oh, and let me borrow that shield we found in the Spirit Temple."

Ganondorf said nothing as he handed over the mirrored shield, which was so big on Link that it made him look like he was wearing a turtle shell. He had to put both his arms through the hand grips to carry it. Then Ganondorf lifted the boy high enough to reach the rope. Link quickly shifted hand over hand, legs swinging over the bubbling lava as he inched his way toward the chest.

"Mind the lizards!" Ganondorf shouted as one lifted its head, anticipating a meal, and aimed a spout of fire at Link. Link raised his legs to cur around the rope, and the fire struck the shield, harmlessly deflected to the sides. Link furiously thwacked the rope as little bits of fire leaped onto the rope anyway, putting out the fires immediately after they started, with just a little browning for damage.

Ganondorf gritted his teeth. "Hurry it up!"

Link traversed to the end of the rope, dropping down on the small bit of stone where the chest sat. He opened it and then raised the key over his head in triumph for Ganondorf to see.

"Very nice!" The Gerudo shouted at him. "Now get back here!"

Link stuck the key in his belt, then stood on top of the empty chest to grasp the rope, and made his way hand over hand back again. He kicked a lizard in the snout before it could start breathing fire at him, and landed on the path next to Ganondorf. "Do you think you can yank the rope hard enough to get some of it back without dropping it in the lava?"

"It's worth a try." Ganondorf pulled as hard as he could, Link grasping the rope as it flew toward them in snaking curves. A third of the rope fell into the lava, which devoured it as well as the arrow. They pulled up the remainder and stamped out the fire burning at the end. "Better than nothing."

Link hurried over to the door and inserted the key. The lock fell to the ground, and with a little push, he found he could open the door. He ran inside, Ganondorf following behind.

--

"So his ancestor was a famous warlord?"

Darunia nodded. "More than that. For years, Ganondorf's name was given the title King of Darkness, Lord of Evil. He ruled for seven years, during which Hyrule withered like a tree in a drought. But that was because he did not possess the full Triforce."

Zelda blinked. "Why not, if the entire icon had been hidden in the Temple of Time?"

"The story goes that only one who is pure of heart can possess the whole Triforce," Darunia explained. "A great warrior who freed Hyrule from its first period of chaos was the one who interred it in the Temple of Time. Can't trust even the Royal Family to have only virtuous people in it, after all."

Fidgeting a little on the hard stone, Zelda asked, "So when it was split, he went after the other two, knowing he couldn't have them?"

Darunia scratched his head, making a sound like wheat on a grindstone. "Some say the Triforce will grant a wish if the icon is made whole again, no matter who does it. We Gorons only know bits of the story, after all…it's the Keeper of Wisdom's job to know the history."

Zelda bit her lip, her eyes cast downward. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. This is not the first time chaos has come to Hyrule, as I've just told you." He scratched his chin. "I wonder…I wonder if it is the aim of the Goddesses to bring the icon back to its original form, since all Three Bearers seem to be working on the same side this time."

"But someone will just come along and split it again." Zelda picked at her dress. "As foolish as it sounds…perhaps my uncle is right, in some things. Perhaps Hyrule should forget about the Triforce, as it causes nothing but trouble."

Darunia shook his head. "That would be a mistake as well. The Triforce is the source of Hyrule's magic power. It makes Hyrule what it is. Besides…" Darunia stared off into the light of the sparkling gems, as if trying hard to put words to thought. "There's another legend, saying that the Three are reborn in an Endless Cycle, which is necessary for the Triforce to exist. This constant retelling of the legend…of Power's destruction, Courage's heroics, and Wisdom's healing…it is as natural as the rain and wind." He paused. "No matter how dark the night, the sun always rises in the end. And if there were no darkness, there would be no way to compare the brightness of the light."

Zelda sat silently for a few moments, massaging the back of the hand that held the holy symbol. "I have to admit," she said slowly, "This all seems…familiar to me somehow, as if I've heard it before…in a dream…"

"Or in another life?"

She glanced up at him. The golden icon on her hand called to her, as if beckoning an old friend from a great distance. She felt suddenly very old, with a strange sense of calm, as if someone…her dead mother, or grandmother…were standing by her side, to guide and protect.

Or perhaps…it was herself?

--

"Blasted flying rats!" Ganondorf smacked at the fabric on his arm that had caught fire when a flaming Keese had rammed into him. "What magic is this, that they can burn and still be alive?"

Link could not be bothered with the explanation. With a bundle of arrows he had found in some dark corner of the Temple, he skewered the fiery creatures and opened up a new path.

Ganondorf frowned at a small, barred room, its lock rusted shut. "It looks like this place was once used as a prison. Who would jail someone in such an inhospitable place? You might as well behead the person and end their suffering. It'd be easier, too."

Link glanced briefly at the cells. "Maybe it's a Goron prison."

"Don't know why they'd need one. Well, all right, I'm sure they've had troublemakers from time to time, but we've seen enough cells to imprison the whole population!"

Link shrugged, spreading the crackly aged map he had found, kneeling on the floor and studying it closely.

Ganondorf frowned at him. "Not much of a thinker, are you? Do you just do what people tell you? What's your whole purpose in this thing anyway?"

Link glanced up, startled, as if nobody had ever asked him this question before. He turned back to the map, and Ganondorf was about to ask again when Link said, "To find a home."

Ganondorf blinked. "You don't have one?"

"I came here from another country, remember? There's nothing for me there." He rolled up the map. "If I help Zelda get her country back, maybe she'll give me a place to live. So I won't have to worry anymore about finding one."

Scratching his head, Ganondorf said, "You're a competent lad. I'm sure anyone would take you in as an apprentice."

Link smiled sadly. It was the only time Ganondorf had seen a sorrowful look on the boy's face. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?"

And then it was gone as quickly as it came. "Come on, there's still a long way to go!"

--

"I guess this is it," Link said, looking up at the enormous door.

"You have a big key and it's a big lock." Ganondorf wiped the sweat that rolled down his face in bullets. "Just open it already, so we can get out of here."

Link did so. They both stepped into an enormous, empty chamber, filed with - what else? - a gigantic pool of lava. A small altar sat on the other end of the room, at such a distance that they could barely make it out in the hazy, air-bending heat.

"Our rope's not going to make it that far," Ganondorf grumbled. "Got any more ideas in that head of yours?"

Just then the ground beneath them rumbled. This was not unusual…the mountain had been rumbling since they left the forest. But the sound had a strange timbre to it, as if it were coming from something other than the natural flow of the molten stone.

Link's eyes narrowed. "That sounded almost like…a growl…"

Suddenly a swishing, slapping sound, like some enormous creature surfacing in thick water, echoed in the cavern. Both watched in trepidation as a blood-red fin rose from the lava, sinking back in again. Link drew his sword, and Ganondorf summoned a fistful of ice.

All at once the lava in front of them exploded, an ear-shattering roar erupting from the molten rock. As the magma fell, the enormous sharp-angled face of a dragon appeared. Its upper scales flashed crimson, the ones on its belly the color of orange flame. It stared at them with amber eyes that rivaled Ganondorf's in fierceness. The dragon spread its wings and the arching span filled the entire cavern.

Link faltered slightly, the gripped his sword.

The dragon turned his eyes upon him. "What brings you here, warriors? Come to slay a dragon for fame and fortune?" It had a deep voice that bounced off the rocky walls and rang in their ears. He spread his claws, with sharp points like polished spears. "You'll find it hard to come by."

"Hold!" Ganondorf held up his hand. "We're not here to slay dragons, though if you interfere with our quest, we will not hesitate to fight." He motioned to Link, who pulled the Fire medallion from his pack. "We have been instructed by the Goddesses to place this here. If you try to take it from this room, or in any other way diminish its power, then we will have no choice but to kill you."

The dragon's fierce temper burned low, like a candle that had just been lit and now settled into its wick. "I see. So you are not here for me at all. You should know, that if you are indeed sent by the Goddesses, killing me would be a grave mistake."

"Why is that?" Link asked.

"We dragons stoke the fires that feed the burning mountains. I am Valor, son of Volvagia, who lived here before she was slain by a Hylian warrior."

"Slain by a Hylian warrior?" Link glanced at Ganondorf and could tell he was thinking the same thing. "But if that was my ancestor…that would have been hundreds of years ago…"

Valor smiled slightly. "Dragons live a long time. Nearly forever…unless, of course, they are killed."

Link fidgeted. "I'm, er, sorry about my ancestor…"

The great dragon shook his magnificent head. "No matter. My mother was greedy and cruel. She developed a taste for Goron flesh, and when an evil king promised her an entire tribe of them, it would only make sense that someone would come along to stop it."

Ganondorf sighed. "Then I too must apologize, as it was likely my ancestor who tempted her."

Valor sank down into the lava until he faced them at eye level. "No need. Those of us who do not become like Volvagia are very wise, because we live so long. I can see you are not to be blamed for your ancestors' actions." He blinked his gold-coin eyes. "But I can tell from looking at you that their blood runs through you, and it does not surprise me that you come here on a quest of your own. So I will pass on some of my wisdom to you."

Link nodded eagerly; Ganondorf merely waited.

"Good and Evil, in their pure forms, only exist in tales," said Valor. "A dragon is a frightening thing to most mortals, but as I've explained, we have a purpose too." He nodded to both of them. "Destiny shapes your futures, but within that there is plenty of room to move. A hero can become a villain, and vice versa. Never assume that because something has caused trouble that it will always do so. Sometimes that which is feared, is feared not because it is bad or wrong, but only because the right kind of person can handle it."

"You mean like the Triforce?" Link asked.

Valor nodded. "I've heard tell of what's happened recently in the castle. It is a strange turn of events, as the Royal Family has been the Triforce's guardian for eons. But anything can happen in the great void of Time."

He held out his enormous clawed hand to Link. "Give me the sigil, and I will return this Temple to its former glory."

Link handed over the Fire medallion. "Good Luck, Keepers of Power and Courage. And say hello to Wisdom for me."

Valor placed the sigil at the altar. In the blink of an eye, the two were back in the Goron city.

"So you have both returned safely!" They whirled round to see Darunia standing nearby, with Zelda next to him.

"Was it difficult?" Zelda asked Link.

"Not any more so than the rest we've done so far," he said cheerfully as he handed back the satchel.

Ganondorf watched her glance at him with something like trepidation, and yet not the kind of fear he would expect from someone that had been hearing horror stories about his ancestor. He felt an odd tingling in one hand, and they all glanced down in surprise.

"It's…glowing…" Link said more to himself than anyone else, as he stared transfixed at the icon on the back of his hand.

"The Triforce is resonating as it senses its fellows." Zelda's voice had a strange, ethereal tone to it. "As we return the sigils to their sources, power returns to the Triforce."

"Then you must continue quickly!" Daruna announced. "If the King gets word that this is happening, he will barricade or even destroy the Temple of Time. You must go to the Zora's Domain, and quickly!"


	11. Water Temple

"The false King will likely have spies and even ordinary citizens out looking for you," said Darunia as they stood at the entrance to the Goron city. "Link and Ganondorf, you may keep the protective clothing I gave you if you think it will help disguise you."

"Thanks, but no," Ganondorf said as he pulled off the tunic. "Red is not really a color meant for hiding."

"You should keep it, though," Darunia said to Link. "The legends always say that the Ancient Hero wore green; it's not much of a ruse, but if you give them pause it may be the difference between life and death."

"What about me?" Zelda asked. "I was never given a princess' garments, but I still wear noble's clothing."

"We can get you some more suitable clothes in the village below," Ganondorf said, pointing to the settlement at the foot of the mountain.

"It's probably dangerous to go in the shops of Kakariko," Zelda warned. "They're very closely connected to the Royal Family."

"Then we won't go in the shops," Ganondorf said pointedly. Link opened his mouth to ask a question, then shut it.

"Good luck!" Darunia called after them as they hurried down the mountain.

Halfway down, Ganondorf motioned to the others to stop, then kneeled down and pressed his ear to the ground. "There are horsemen coming," he announced.

"My uncle may have sent messengers to Darunia," Zelda told him. "Darunia would not betray us, but how can we get to the foot of the mountain without running into them?" She motioned toward the steep, winding, narrow path upon which they walked. "There is hardly room for us to hide."

Ganondorf stared up at the cliffs above them. "I can climb," he said. "But I would rather stay here and hide the two of you, to find out just how much the messenger knows about us."

"I'll stay here," Link offered, taking off his hat and ensuring that no green peeked out from underneath his borrowed tunic. "They've got to be suspicious of a Gerudo man if there's only one in all the country. I'm the least conspicuous of all of us."

"Very well." Ganondorf offered his hand to Zelda and helped her climb up on his shoulder. He dug his hands into the cracks of the cliff and stood on footholds that the other two could not see. Link marveled as the huge man quickly pulled his heavy bulk a couple dozen feet above him.

He chuckled inwardly at the simplicity of the trick, as he watched the King's messenger troupe trudge slowly up the mountain. The head messenger, and all the others on horses, merely stared straight ahead. Those unlucky knights that walked on foot stared only down upon the ground. If any of them merely raised their head they could have seen Ganondorf.

Keeping his head bowed, Link waited for the messengers to approach. Finally he heard someone yell "Hold!"

"Boy," said the head messenger, "we are from Hyrule Castle. We are looking for two fugitives and a girl they kidnapped. One is a Gerudo man; he's very tall, and dark-skinned, with red hair. You can't miss him. The other is a young man who looks much younger than he actually is, dressed in green with blonde hair. They've kidnapped a young noble girl, about your age. Have you seen any of them?"

Link kept his eyes on the ground, not wanting to give the messenger any reason to look up. "No, sir, I haven't seen anyone like that." He tried not to smile at the assumption that the 'kidnapper' must be much older.

The messenger sighed. "Very well then. Take note, boy, there's a large reward offered for their capture. Not that you could collect it." The rest of the troupe laughed. "But pass it on to any adults you know." He took up the reins as if to start forward again, then paused. "By the way, boy, what are you doing all the way up here?"

Link thought fast. "I'm an apprentice to a bomb-maker, sir. I was sent to the Goron city by my master to deliver a request."

"Oh. Well, get along with you, then. Tell your master what I told you so you don't get into trouble for dawdling." He tapped his horse's flanks and the procession moved up the mountain once again.

"What did they say?" Zelda demanded as she climbed off Ganondorf's shoulders, once they were back on the path.

"Exactly what you thought. C'mon, let's hurry!"

--

A few hours later they struck out across Hyrule Field, shrouded in the darkness of the new moon and with the two children clothed in garments Ganondorf had "borrowed" from the village. They stayed close to the thin river that ran along one side of the fields, following it to its beginning in the Zora's Doman.

At first, Zelda managed to keep up with the other two. But she had never been allowed to walk very far, even when she wanted to. Link saw her lagging behind first, then offered to carry her on his back. But he couldn't keep up with the extra weight, and called for Ganondorf to slow down.

"Why didn't you say something earlier? I could have carried her easily," he said as he picked Zelda up.

Zelda reddened slightly. "I'm sorry, I just…wanted to pull my own weight, that's all."

He gave her a surprised look, then said, "Think nothing of it. It's not your fault you're slower than us."

Finally the river thinned to the point that it was a small waterfall emptying into a brook. "Well, here's the beginning, where are the Zora?" Ganondorf demanded.

"The passage is hidden," they whirled round to see a female Zora guard standing in the shallow water behind them. "You are the three that just came from Death Mountain, correct? Darunia sent a message that you were coming. I will take you to our King. Follow me."

She slipped behind the waterfall and the others followed, with some difficulty. They emerged with expressions of surprise, as they stepped into a huge cavern with an enormous pool in the center. A small waterfall flowed on the opposite side, and Zora of all sizes and ages stopped what they were doing to stare.

"You'll have to excuse them," said the guard. "We don't get outsiders very often."

She brought them to the Zora King's throne, in a sparkling mineral pool that spread the little light in the cavern over the ceiling and walls. He looked much like the others, perhaps a little stronger, but save for the crown they could not have picked him out from the rest. Zelda wondered if it was merely the fact that they did not use clothing to define their station.

"Welcome, travelers and friends of Darunia," said the King. "I had heard rumors that the Hidden Princess had escaped from the false king, but I had no way of knowing if they were true."

"So then you are familiar with our quest?" Ganondorf asked, getting straight to business.

The King nodded. "The Temple you seek is not far from here. But there are some things I must tell you before you go." He motioned toward a servant, who gave him an ornately carved box. "In better times, we would escort visitors to the air pockets of the Temple ourselves, but I will not allow my people to enter. A malevolent phantom lives there, one which has somehow taken the form of a Zora and even created more of itself somehow. Those of my warriors who have gone in and managed to return all speak of a phantom Zora, and have reported fighting the same one in different places at the same time - impossible, unless there is more than one."

"Is there something in that box that will help us?" Link asked.

"Not with fighting the creature, but with entering the temple." The King opened the box and displayed a set of silvery fish scales. "These are scales from our guardian deity, Jabu-Jabu. They have magic properties, and while you carry one you can breathe underwater." He held the box out to the three travelers, who each took a scale.

"Do they help us swim too?" Ganondorf asked, staring doubtfully at the scale.

The King shook his head. "I am sorry, but no. However, you do not need to be a powerful swimmer to move about the Temple. The scale will prevent you from drowning, the biggest danger besides the phantom itself. Good luck!"

--

"You can't swim?" Link demanded of Ganondorf as soon as they were out of earshot, following the river again to Lake Hylia.

Ganondorf scowled at him. "Where do you suppose I would learn, living in the desert?"

"It doesn't matter," Zelda cut in. "I can't swim either. I can't run, but I made it through Hyrule Field. We'll help you if need be."

Ganondorf looked as if he would seriously consider drowning instead.

When they reached the shoreline of Lake Hylia, they all simply walked in. Ganondorf and Zelda walked along the bottom, slowly and with care as the water made them buoyant, but not enough to float. Link paddled above them. "Showoff," Ganondorf muttered.

The Temple's entrance actually stood halfway between the bottom and the shoreline. Link dived down toward the doorway, while Zelda and Ganondorf climbed up, using the brick structure to pull themselves upward.

Zelda smiled broadly. "Being underwater makes climbing so much easier, even I can do it."

"I don't like it," Ganondorf grumbled, unused to the push and pull of the water. "Let's find an air pocket."

As they entered the main temple, they saw that they were in the middle of three floors, and that the entire thing had been submerged underwater. Ganondorf jumped out toward the tall building in the center, floundered for a while as he slowly sank, then grabbed hold and inched upward as Zelda followed and Link swam to the surface.

"You find air yet?" Ganondorf demanded.

Link stuck his head back in the water. "Yeah, but I don't really see much of anything other than a couple doors. It looks as if most of the Temple is underwater."

"That doesn't make sense," Zelda said as she pulled herself closer to the surface. "The Zora King made it sound like they used to bring air-breathers here, but it would be impossible to hold one's breath this long."

Ganondorf broke the surface and hauled himself out of the water, then helped Zelda up, for her fabric had taken on several more pounds once wet. He glanced around the room. "I can't say for sure, but it looks as if the water level in this place can be altered." He pointed to a Royal Seal on the far corner. "Surely Hylians must come here, if they've planted their seal on it."

Link surfaced from another investigation into the middle building. "There's a bunch of openings and doors in the structure we're standing on," he said. "I think there's a way to change the water level in there, but I have no idea how it works." He nodded to the Royal Seal. "There's another one of those in there, and it said something about playing music to make the water level change."

"Music?" Ganondorf looked skeptical. "How does music move water?"

"There are many old tales that speak of doors being sealed by magical instruments," Zelda told them. "It was a fairly efficient locking system…not only did you have to play the correct instrument, but you had to know the correct tune as well." Zelda dug into her pockets and pulled out a tiny silk bag. She opened it and showed them an even tinier fragment of what looked like blue porcelain, with the mark of the Triforce painted on it in gold. "This was important, once, but I'm not sure what it was other than some kind of musical instrument. An oboe, maybe. Or some kind of flute. It was hidden in my tower…with a note saying it had been of the utmost importance once, but it had been destroyed like so many other fragments of the past."

Ganondorf took it, turning it over in one hand. "It definitely has the feel of old magic about it," he said, and handed it back to her. "But it's got no use for us now in it's current state, I'm afraid."

Link shrugged. "We can still get around in the temple, with the scales that the Zora King gave us. The only question is, which way first? I've counted nine doors in this place, not counting the ones going into the building we're standing in now."

As if in response, they heard a loud clicking noise behind them. Whirling round, they found that one of the locked doors had mysteriously opened.

Zelda frowned. "Is that an answer, or a trap?"

"Gotta start somewhere," said Link. "Besides, we've gotten through a lot so far."

"Don't get overconfident, boy," Ganondorf warned. "The old magic of this country may have waned, but that doesn't mean that there aren't still dangerous things hiding in the dark corners of this world."

Zelda wrung her hands. "Let's just get it over with. Nothing saps courage like being cold and wet."

With Link's help, they paddled to the opposite door and entered. They found little of interest, some old rusty traps and a few dark creatures that had taken up residence in the absence of a priestess to tend to the Temple. Ganondorf insisted on going back, but Link stated that they should make sure there was nothing there first.

They stepped into another room, this one apparently empty except for a lone dead tree in the middle of the room. "Who plants a tree in a windowless Temple at the bottom of a lake?" Ganondorf asked, a rhetorical question. They splashed through ankle-high water to the other side, and as they did, a thick fog began to form. Ganondorf halfheartedly tossed a magic ball at the ceiling, wondering if perhaps it was an illusion and they were really outside.

The fog went from thready to pea soup in a matter of seconds. Link put his hand on the cold, damp door. "It's locked," he said.

"Then we'll just have to find a key elsewhere," Ganondorf grumbled.

Suddenly they heard a yelp of fear from Zelda; but when they whirled round, they could not see her or each other.

"Zelda!" Link called, his voice getting thinner to Ganondorf's ear by the syllable. "Zelda, where are you?" "Link? Zelda?" Ganondorf felt as if he had cotton stuck in his ears; the sound of his own voice did not seem to travel past his skull. He lit a small fire in the palm of his hand but it gave off about as much light as an orange cat.

He heard footsteps behind him, too large and heavy to belong to either of the children. Drawing his sword, he bellowed out a challenge. "Who's there?"

A shadow emerged from the fog, and nothing more than a shadow; an inky black being with red eyes. That alone was remarkable enough, but what made the air catch in Ganondorf's throat was the fact that it looked _exactly like him_.

"What's the matter?" the phantom hissed, in a voice frighteningly similar to his own. "Cat got your tongue?"


	12. Shadows of the Past

"Who are you?" Ganondorf demanded of the phantom.

The dark figure's mouth split in a grin. "Isn't it obvious?"

Ganondorf raised his sword in a guarding position. "Are you the spirit of my ancestor, still causing trouble in this world?"

"Of course not," it said with a haunting laugh that echoed throughout the room, even though Ganondorf's voice stayed firmly put beside him. "I'm you."

Without warning, the phantom sliced his sword in an arc, nearly breaking Ganondorf's guard. It whirled round and with the force of its movement, thrust the butt of its sword into Ganondorf's chest, throwing him backward. "Actually, let me rephrase that. I'm you, only better."

Ganondorf rose quickly, making his own swipe at the creature, but the phantom swept out of his reach like smoke. "I'm no fool, creature. You're some creation of dark magic, and I'm immune to your mind-games."

The shadow flashed past Ganondorf and the Gerudo bit back a surprised gasp as a sword moving almost faster than sight sliced his right arm. Laughing, Dark Ganondorf said, "You need to worry less about your mind, and more about your body."

Snarling, Ganondorf made a pass that would have felled a Goron, but still missed entirely. "It matters not who or what you are. You're in my way, and therefore you will perish!"

--

"Are you lost, pretty Princess?"

Zelda whirled round to see no one, only her shadow beside her. And yet it was her shadow that spoke. "What on earth?"

"You must be lost," said the shadow. "I can't imagine you would be able to find the way to the altar by yourself."

Startled, Zelda demanded, "You know about my quest?"

"Of course I do. I have Wisdom." The shadow stepped closer. "I am everything that you are not."

Zelda's eyes narrowed. "There's no need to be insulting," she said slowly, not sure what level of a threat she was dealing with. Better to let the Thing think she really was stupid. "I have Wisdom also."

"Then you would have given up already," the shadow said simply, as if stating a fact. "You're too weak for this quest. You know it, don't you?"

"Leave, Shadow," Zelda ordered, realizing what it was trying to do. "You have no business here."

Dark Zelda laughed. "The only thing more pathetic," she said with relish, "than a Princess who gives futile orders, is a Princess who never was and acts like one anyway!"

--

Link could feel it before he saw it, a black shadow creeping over his heart. He circled slowly, not wanting to offer his back to whatever it was that watched him, sword and shield raised. Link strained his ears for some kind of sound, footfalls or the squishy slide of some tentacled monster.

When the voice finally spoke, he nearly jumped out of his skin. "Hello again, little warrior. You've shrunk since I saw you last." He could hear the echo of laughter in the speaker's tone.

"What are you talking about?" Link demanded. "Who are you and what have you done with my friends?"

"Your friends?" Harsh laughter echoed throughout the room. "Your eternal foe, and the ice queen? You mean them?"

Link snarled, as viciously as a ten-year-old can. "Show yourself!"

More laughter. A dark spot in the corner of Link's vision grew, stretching into the shape of a young man. A young man with very similar clothes, also armed with a sword and shield. The shadow's red eyes glittered. "Hello, Hero. It's been a long time."

Scowling, Link said, "I don't know you. And I don't want to."

"Oh, you'll get to know me eventually," Dark Link said with a mischievous grin. "It's inevitable, for one in your line of work. At some point, the darkness will consume you."

"Stop talking about stupid stuff." Link spoke with force, despite having neither the eloquence nor the vocabulary of Zelda or Ganondorf. He swiped at the shadow. "Get out of my way!"

Dark Link melted away from the blade like smoke, reforming on Link's other side. "Hmmm…" he said slowly, with a critical eye. "My, my, you've got a long way to go. You'll never get out of this room at that rate."

Link's eyes flicked about the room, searching for a switch or some other method to exit without dealing with this monster. "Oh, it doesn't work that way," Dark Link said brightly. "In order to get out, you have to really _want_ to get out. You have to be willing to do anything."

"What do I have to do?" Link demanded, knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"Give me one of your friends," said Dark Link. "Sacrifice one of them, so you and the other can go on."

"I won't!"

"No? Not even the Dark Lord?"

"He's not like that," Link stated firmly. "Maybe his ancestor was bad, but there's nothing wrong with this Ganondorf."

Dark Link leaned in close. "You know he's responsible for the raid on your home village, don't you?"

Link swiped at him again, and had just as little effect. "I'm not stupid. It was the Kardosans that attacked us."

"Hah!" Out of nowhere, a table and chairs appeared. "Sit down, little boy. Come on, I don't bite," he said as Link stood with his sword ready. "I'll tell you a story. A story that has many different versions, but certain things are always the same." He smiled wide. "In the story, there's a little boy just like you. Poor little boy…a pawn in the hands of the Goddesses…"

--

"Pathetic."

Ganondorf struggled to rise from the floor, blood running down the right side of his face. The dark phantom above him stared down with deep contempt. He clenched his hand around his sword, waiting for the creature to move nearer, but it did not.

"You're a poor specimen of a King of Evil." Dark Ganondorf's voice rumbled throughout the room. "It's been so many years since my name has brought fear to this world. The dark power we wielded has been diluted into almost nothing."

Ganondorf managed to dodge out of the way as a blast of black energy flew toward him. He summoned a ball of fire and hurled it, missing the monster by a wide margin. "Your regrets are no concern of mine, monster," he snarled. "If you choose to live in shadows of the past, it has nothing to do with me."

"It has everything to do with you." Dark Ganondorf stepped forward slowly, deliberately, "You are merely a vessel for the dark power that I wield."

"You speak as if I am the shadow. But I told you…I am immune to your mind-tricks."

"Fool," Dark Ganondorf said smoothly. "There have been many vessels over the years, but only one King of Evil. I am the Darkness, the plague, the bitter wind. I devour and defile all before me. There is no sword that can cut me, not magic that can banish me forever. I can be imprisoned, but I cannot ever cease to exist."

Quick as thinking, Dark Ganondorf's hand shot out and grasped Ganondorf's neck. "There is no need for a struggle," he said as Ganondorf attempted to wrench himself out of his grasp. "Whatever you desire, I will desire it too. I am the Promise of all you stand to gain. Admit it," he said in a voice suddenly silky-soft, "Is there not something you want in this life? Protection for your people? Surely you have at some point thought about the Purpose of your existence? I can make all your dreams reality. Your soul calls to me. We have always been together, you and I."

Ganondorf summoned a ball of energy and thrust it hard into the shadow's abdomen. Dark Ganondorf cried out in surprise and dropped him, stepping back a few paces. His blood-red eyes narrowed. "I see your past glory has been hidden from you," he said. "No matter. I will open your eyes for you…and then you will see your true destiny." He raised his hand, a deep-hued glow radiating from it. "I will show you what it means to wield the Power of the Gods."

--

Zelda ran her hands against the walls, trying to block out the speech of the Dark Princess beside her. But her words seemed to seep into her brain, like poison.

"It really doesn't matter," said Dark Zelda. "You can just sit and wait if you want…it's a lot easier. You know either the Hero or the Dark King will come for you. That's the way it always is."

"I'll find my own way out, thanks, Zelda muttered through clenched teeth.

Dark Zelda sighed a tiny little sigh. "That's not how it works," she said carelessly, as if explaining to a small, dim child. "You either control or are controlled. Either you use Link as your pawn, and manipulate him so he'll save you, or you let the Dark King take possession of you…mind, body, and soul."

"Link's my friend," Zelda insisted, "and I don't think Ganondorf cares about that sort of thing." She rapped her knuckles on the walls, the sound all too solid.

Shrugging, Dark Zelda said, "You can't fight destiny. Oh, you can work with it here and there, bending the rules a bit, but it all comes down to the same thing in the end." She danced a little pirouette over the misty floor. "You use Link, or Ganondorf uses you. Someone will have to endure the rape of their innocence…better make sure it's not you."

"Shut. Your. Mouth." Zelda swung round to face her tormentor. "You're a…a stupid bitch, that's what you are!"

Dark Zelda's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Oh, my! Such language from a pretty princess!"

"You just said I'm not a princess," Zelda spoke low, her anger bubbling below the surface. "And Link's not a pawn, and Ganondorf's not an evil king." The mark on her hand began to glow. "Our lives have been broken from the beginning…broken, but now able to be built into a different shape. Into whatever we want it to be."

The mark flared, and suddenly a golden bow appeared in Zelda's hands. "This is what I think of your _destiny!"_

_--_

"Zelda wouldn't do that."

Dark Link laughed. "Oh no? She's done it to every one of us since the beginning of time. Since the first Link fought the first Ganondorf."

"This is stupid. You're stupid!" Link drew his sword.

Grinning, Dark Link said, "Why don't you save your rage for the Dark Lord? It's more useful that way. I know you want to slice him…kill him…taste blood and death!"

"No!" Link swiped at him.

"I'll come for you eventually," Dark Link said in low, dulcet tones. "When you finally stop denying yourself. When it becomes too much…the dying, the disappointment…"

Link covered his ears. "I'm not listening to you."

"I'll be there for you, to comfort you, to help you. Don't you see? We all snap in the end. We all face some point when we can't take it anymore. When the Light is too bright and we welcome the Darkness. If you spend your entire life among hatred and blood and gore, eventually you embrace it. You embrace it or you go mad." Dark Link's laughter suggested that this had happened already. "Come! Your weakness is my strength, little boy. There is none stronger than a Dark Hero, a twisted savior, the one who will pass Judgment with his sword, split Good and Evil and make even the Gods tremble before him!"

Link uncovered his ears and gripped his sword. "I said, I'm not listening."

--

"What are you doing?!"

Dark Ganondorf stared with wide eyes at the sword that protruded from his ribs. "Why…why are you doing this? Kill me and you destroy yourself!"

"You're not me." Ganondorf pushed the phantom off his sword with his boot. "This world is not yours. This body is not yours. You're just an echo of past failures. And why should I listen to one who perpetually fails?"

The shadow fell to its knees, fell laughter echoing around them. "I may be crippled, but I'm not dead, fool. I can never die. I will always be here. I will come for you eventually."

"Fine." Ganondorf sheathed his sword. "Then I'll be the one to leave." He strode purposefully away from the crumpled shadow.

"Come back!" Dark Ganondorf shrieked after him. "Why, in the name of the Gods, are you abandoning your Power? Your Destiny?"

Ganondorf smiled slightly as the fog began to clear around him. "I make my own destiny."

--

The arrow sparkled for a brief moment in the middle of Dark Zelda's forehead, and Zelda had a sudden flash of memory, a bright jewel worn by a dark man, an evil voice shrieking in pain. But now it was a girl's voice, or a twisted version of one, her own voice tainted by the same Evil her ancestors had always fought.

And then it was gone. Shadow, arrow, bow, and fog. She found herself standing in the empty room, with both Ganondorf and Link standing beside her.

"Are you all right?" she asked them both. None of the Three bore any sign of the wounds inflicted by their Dark counterparts, internal or external. Her companions nodded. All of them knew that the words spoken with their doppelgangers were theirs and theirs alone.

"Well done." They turned at the sound of a soft, sibilant voice. A ghost stood before them, not a dark shadow but a fish-woman in an angelic bluish-white light. "You have banished the shadows to the darkness once more."

"I suppose that means they will return again," Ganondorf grumbled.

"Not in your lifetime…at least if you stay on the same path," said the Zora ghost. "I am Ruto, once a queen among my people, once a Sage and friend to the First Hero." She smiled at Link, though didn't seem bothered by his blank stare. "The Light of this world has grown weak, and so Shadows have been given new strength. You will face more of them in the next part of your quest…shadows of this country and the ills has its suffered, rather than your own."

"Is that a warning?" Zelda asked.

"Of sorts," said Ruto. "But I have faith in you. You closed your ears to your Dark Sides here, so I believe you will shun their calls later on. He who is forewarned is forearmed. But you must still be careful…there is great power in bitter memories."

Link dug into the travel pack, bringing out the Water Sigil. "Do I give this to you?"

She nodded, and took it. "Good luck to you!"

And then they were back on the shore of the lake. Ganondorf squinted out over the water. "I'm not looking forward to the Shadow Temple."


	13. Watchers

The trip from the lake back to Kakariko took all night, even with Zelda riding high on Ganondorf;s shoulders. This was not just to keep pace; strange things still came out at night, especially on the edges of the wood and the open plain, and Zelda had no means of defending herself. With her safely on his shoulders, Ganondorf could easily dispatch any threats alongside Link.

"Is the temple really in the graveyard?" Link asked, surprisingly not out of breath from all the running and fighting.

Zelda nodded. "It's in the back, actually, behind the tomb of the Royal Family. The Shekiah, the ancient guardians, used it as both a place of worship and an interrogation center for enemies of the Crown. They were said to have one foot in death and one in life, constantly walking a fine line between this world and the next."

"I thought I knew all the races of Hyrule," said Ganondorf. "I've never heard of the Shekiah."

"They have been gone for many years," Zelda replied sadly. "It's a terrible shame…as frightening as they were, they also held the key to Hyrule's most ancient secrets. Much of their knowledge is gone forever."

"Is it possible that they just moved away, like the Gerudo did?" Link asked.

"I suppose, but…given the little I know about them, it's not very likely."

They arrived at Kakariko just after sunrise. Link didn't say anything, but he was secretly relieved that they would not be wandering around the graveyard at night. His home country had seen many wars, and the dead rested uneasily in the ground, muttering curses upon the night wind.

Few paid any attention to the three travelers, even deliberately ignoring the enormous Gerudo man who dwarfed his companions. Ganondorf scanned the town suspiciously; like the castle town, the people seemed afraid to call any attention to anything unusual. He did not doubt that there were spies in this town, but did doubt that they would attempt to follow them into a Shekiah Temple.

The graveyard rested at the far side of town. No one was there save for an old man who simply told them not to trod on the grass in front of the tombstones.

They reached the royal crypt. Zelda raised her head and pointed upward at a cave and platform above them. "That's where it should be," she said. "But it looks like it's blocked."

"Blocked" was an understatement. Enormous boulders rested in front of what had once been the entrance. The hillside above it appeared eroded, as if the top of the cave entrance had collapsed. "Looks like a recent development," Ganondorf noted. "There is grass in the collapsed area, but no bushes or saplings."

"It was the King's doing, blew up the entrance, he did. Made a fine mess of it," a voice spoke from out of nowhere in a dry, reedy tone.

"Who's there?" Ganondorf demanded, as Link drew his sword. "Show yourself!"

"Down here," said the voice. "No, more to your left. Your other left! Hot, cold, colder…warmer, warmer, there you go! See me now?"

All three gaped in surprise and disbelief. At their feet lay a human skull, speaking to them as casually as if it were in a normal body and not conjured up from dark magic.

"What in blazes?" Ganondorf demanded as the other two took hurried steps back.

"No need to be alarmed," the skull sighed. "Not much I can do other than bite your toes off."

"What are you, a leftover Stalfos?" Link demanded.

"Pffft! Stalfos? No. Those things are all bone and no brain. Well, I don't have a brain either, at least not a physical one, but…forget it, too hard to explain. Anyway, I was one of the Watchers of the Temple. That temple, up there," it said with a jerk of the jaw toward the blocked entrance. "But when the King blew up the entrance, I went flying out here."

"Blew up the Temple? Well, that explains a lot," said Ganondorf, glancing back up at the pile of rock. "Is there anything left?"

"I exaggerated just a touch," said the skull. "The entrance is blocked. But I can sense the other Watchers moving around in it."

"What does a Watcher do?" Zelda inquired. "Do you alert the shadows inside of intruders?"

"Nah, nothing like that," it replied. "I just warn intruders to stay out. Like this…."

"_**Here lies Hyrule's bloody history."**_

Zelda drew in her breath at the sudden change in tone, from almost squeaky to deep, resonating, and ominous. "Pretty good, huh?" The skull said with pride. "Most curious trespassers would wet themselves and _leave _with just that short sentence. Most don't normally come across a talking skull at any point of their lives, after all. So, we keep the riffraff out and only let Shekiah or other warriors in."

"Speaking of getting in," Link cut in, "any chance we could find a way to do that? Is there maybe a back entrance or something?"

"No back entrance," the skull replied. "Nobody can get in…except you three, maybe. You're marked."

"Marked? You mean our hands?" Zelda asked.

"Yep. Which one of you has Power?" it demanded.

Ganondorf raised his hand.

"Well, move along then," it said. "There's really no point to me hanging around out here, when I should be in there. I don't have anything against the Chosen Three going in the Temple."

Ganondorf scowled at it. "How?"

If it could blink, it would have. "What, are you serious? The Bearer of Power doesn't know how to use it?"

Scowling deeper, Ganondorf said, "I do, I just figured there might be more to it than brute strength. Stand back," he instructed the two children. They did so, Link picking up the talking skull as he scrambled away from the Temple entrance.

Ganondorf had scaled the cliff faces of the Gerudo Fortress in his youth, so it didn't take much for him to get to the top of the rock pile. He concentrated, letting the borrowed power that he bore coalesce into his fist. Then, with a sharp movement, he slammed his fist down on the boulders.

Suddenly the air filled with rock dust. All of them, the skull included, coughed in the mass of cloudy grit. "Whew! Overdid it a bit, did you?" the skull exclaimed.

"Enough of your chatter," Ganondorf grumbled. "The Temple entrance is open again, isn't it?"

As the dust settled, they could see a yawning cave behind him, and Link helped Zelda scramble up to the entrance. The skull made a tutting sound. "Tsk, that King took out the Shekiah etchings with that blast. The whole temple's wide open for anyone to come in."

"I thought you said that you kept people out," Link said.

"What, just one kind of security in a place like this? Think, boy. No, there was a door and it was locked by a Shekiah spell, but that's all blown to dust now. Oh well, it looks like the rest of the Temple escaped harm. Come in, come in, I can introduce you to some of the other ghosts."

They found a deep pit right after the cave entrance, but with the remains of their rope and some magical maneuvering on Ganondorf's part, they crossed without any trouble. A woman's voice pierced the silence. "Who hast disturbed our deep sanctum?"

"It's just me, Bedelia," the skull called out. "Brought a few visitors. Triforce Bearers!"

"Oh indeed! Thy voice is most welcome! Come, legendary Bearers! We servants of the Shadows had feared the end of our connection to the Holy Relic." A ghost floated into view, a Hylian noblewoman. She was finely dressed, in colorful silks and golden jewelry, and could be called ravishingly beautiful if not for one small thing. She held her severed head under one arm.

Floating forward, she grasped the head in both hands and pushed it out toward the three still of the living, as if giving them a once-over. Zelda shrank ever so slightly behind the other two. "Fear not, Gentle Princess," Bedelia said. "Thou cannot suffer any injury from us."

"Yeah, it's the ghosts in the deeper parts of the temple that you have to worry about," said the skull.

"What happened to you?" Link demanded of the lady ghost, never having been taught such things as etiquette.

"The King of Hyrule in my time did have words with me," Bedelia replied, "and I came out the worse for it."

"I'm sorry."

"No need for apologies, Hero. Throughout history, the paths of the Royal Family and thy constituents hath crossed in many ways, and scores are often settled with the blade. The Keepers of the Shadows invited me to stay here, and I accepted."

"The Shekiah are still around, you know," the skull informed them. "If they weren't, we wouldn't be talking to you now. They keep this Temple running with their power. But they're in hiding, and have been for many years."

"Speaking of the Shekiah," Ganondorf said, "did they stock this Temple with the ghosts further inside, or are they creatures of darkness outside their magic?"

"Oh, there have been nasty things unrelated to the Shekiah living here at one time or another," said the skull. "This place kinda has an atmosphere for breeding such creatures."

"But the Guardians who remain doth serve the Shekiah," Bedelia added. "Very ancient, they are, tormented souls that the Shadow Keepers bent to thine will. They answer to none but the Shekiah, not even the Triforce Bearers."

"Wonderful," Ganondorf grunted.

Zelda opened her pack and showed them the Shadow Sigil. "We need to get this to the end, or center, of the Temple," she told them. "The Goddesses told us it would help restore Hyrule."

"Ah! A Quest of the Chosen!" Bedelia seemed to glow with excitement. "What aid we can provide, we will, but there is little we can do in our present state. We be Watchers only."

"We could give them the Eye of Truth," said the skull. "That thing's been collecting dust since it was brought back here." It turned in Link's hands to face the others. "There's a lot of traps in this place, but the Eye of Truth will show you which way to go. It's not much help against ghosts, but it'll keep you from meeting a number of other untimely demises."

"Follow me," Bedelia ordered, floating to the side of the room. "I will show thee the way to the Eye. I wouldst give it to thou, but…"

"Yeah, we understand," said Ganondorf. But when she floated right through the wall, he protested, "Hey, we can't pass through solid rock!"

She poked her head out. "This one, thou can," she explained. "It is a false wall, cast by the Shekiah to deceive intruders. Follow my path, and thou wilst reach the Eye."

Bedelia floated silently through the hallways decorated with the skulls of the dead. Only thei footsteps of the living members of the party made a sound on the floor beneath them, and even that seemed muffled somehow. Zelda clutched Link's sleeve, and Link wondered if the others found the air hard to breathe.

As Bedelia led them through the sixth or seventh room, Zelda let out a loud shriek, clutching at her dress. A pallid white hand had reached up from the ground and grabbed the hem. Link drew his sword, slicing it off at the wrist. It raised itself on its fingers and ran forward, making another swipe at Zelda's dress, only stopping when Ganondorf incinerated it with a ball of fire.

More hands appeared, along with a shapeless, fleshy body, its mouth open in a soundless scream. Ganondorf and Link dispatched it quickly and with little effort, but the skull commented, "I thought all the Dead Hands had been cleared out of here."

"Our apologies," Bedelia said to the Three. "We are mere Watchers, and cannot stop the other creatures from moving about the Temple."

"Don't worry about it," Ganondorf assured them. "We've seen a lot more before we came here."

"Bleechh. I hate those things," the skull grumbled. "Yechh, I bet there's ReDeads in the room where the Eye is kept. I knew I heard groaning in here." It turned to Ganondorf. "Fire should get rid of 'em. Don't let 'em touch you, though. I won't say why. Just don't."

Three ReDeads, in fact, guarded the chest where the Eye was kept. Ganondorf dispatched them easily with more fireballs. "They move too slowly to seem much of a threat…I won't tempt fate, though."

"Who will carry the Eye?" Link asked.

Ganondorf took it and gave it to Zelda. "You will ride on my shoulders, and Link and I will defend. Sound good?"

Zelda nodded, and let him help her up onto his massive frame.

Once they returned to the room where they had met Bedelia, the skull said, "Hey, do me one favor. Hang me up above the entrance to the next room. See that little shelf there? That's where I need to go."

Ganondorf reached up and placed him there. "Good luck, Chosen Three," said Bedelia."

"Yeah, we'd come with you, but we don't really have any defense against the other ghosts," said the skull.

Link gave them a smile. "Thanks so much for your help. We'll be fine. Let's go!"

The three of them disappeared into the inky blackness of the Shadow Temple.


	14. Shadow Temple

"Charming," Ganondorf said dryly as they passed by yet another brown stain on the wall, the Temple's tomblike silence broken by a series of angled blades falling from the ceiling in front of them. Some long-forgotten magic raised them back up and then let them fall to the floor again, as if merely demonstrating their intent would scare off most intruders. "A bit overdone, I think."

From her perch on his shoulders, Zelda tried to both scan the area ahead of them with the Eye of Truth, and cower down so that the Gerudo's thick skull would stop any blades that happened to fall from above. "It looks clear for the next few yards."

They passed through the slicing gauntlet fairly easily, the diminutive warrior and the desert raider easily timing their steps to avoid the falling death. "There's no need to strangle," Ganondorf muttered as Zelda gripped his neck tighter.

A pile of bones in the corner suddenly shuddered to life, throwing off decades of dust and forming and upright skeleton. The other two stood back as Link immediately leaped forward, challenging the monster three times his size. After a few minor scrapes, he sent the dark magic that animated it back where it came from and the bones fell to the ground. Link glanced up with an expectant look at Zelda, who peered through the glass and nodded. He ran forward.

"Doesn't tire easily, does he?" Ganondorf said more to himself than to Zelda. "It's just as well he's not my enemy in this lifetime. I imagine my ancestor had a rough time of it."

Zelda said nothing, but watched carefully through the Eye of Truth. Clinging to the tall man's neck, she hoped for once she could contribute to their efforts, rather than literally leaning on them for support.

Link stopped at a side of the wall bearing a message written in blood. Anywhere else, such a thing might have inspired fear, but in a place like this it seemed an almost natural thing to do. "What does it say?" Link asked. "I can't read script."

"I can't read it either," said Ganondorf. "It's an archaic form of the script."

Zelda squinted. "It says, 'Beware the shadows that fall from the ceiling'."

They all cast nervous looks upwards, but the ceiling appeared no more or less shadowy than the rest of the temple. "How can a shadow harm us?" Link demanded.

"I doubt it speaks of our own shadows," Ganondorf grumbled. "Likely it refers to some dark magic. I've already seen more kinds of dark magic here than anywhere else in my life, and we're just getting started."

There appeared to be nothing else to do but go on, so they continued silently and carefully through the corridors. An eerie blue glow lit their way, from what source they did not know, and Ganondorf wondered why there would be any light at all. Surely pure darkness would have kept most people out. Then again, a torch would be all an intruder needed.

Suddenly Zelda's shriek nearly split Ganondorf's eardrums and he felt her weight abruptly disappear from his shoulders. Both he and Link turned just in time to see an enormous, gnarled, warty hand pull the princess right through the ceiling, both disappearing completely.

On impulse Ganondorf reached upward, only to skin his knuckles on the stone ceiling. "What on earth?"

"You lost her!" Link shouted accusingly. "How could you have lost her? Why weren't you paying attention?"

"Silence, boy!" He spread his hands over the stone, as if searching for an invisible hole; but found nothing but hard rock. "The girl is unharmed; can't you feel it?"

Indeed, through the mark on his hand, Link could somehow sense that she was both alive and unhurt; but who knew for how long? "We have to find her! Where did that thing take her?"

Ganondorf frowned, contemplating. "I imagine it would take her to the end or middle of the temple…the main chamber."

Now it was Link's turn to scowl. "She had the Eye of Truth with her! How are we supposed to get there without it?"

"Calm down." Ganondorf looked out over the wide chasm that opened up after their corridor. "There's always more than one way into a place."

Link bent down and picked up a small stone, dropping it into the chasm. He couldn't be sure he heard it hit the bottom. Still, it gave him an idea. He hurled a few more across the pit, and to their surprise, one of them appeared to bounce off in midair.

"A good idea, in theory," Ganondorf muttered. "I'm sure we'll find a flaw sooner or later…still, it's all we have to go on for now…"

BREAK

With a yelp and a thump, Zelda fell from the ceiling and hit the floor hard on her rear, her hands still clutching the Eye of Truth. Tears sprang from her eyes, in both fear and pain. "Owww…"

"Back already? That was quick!"

Zelda yelped in surprise, then stared in confusion as she found herself back in the Temple entryway, Bedelia and the talking skull in front of her. "You got caught by a Ceiling Master, didn't you?" the skull asked.

"Is that what that thing was?" Zelda shook slightly as she rose painfully to her feet.

"Thou has lost thy companions!" Bedelia exclaimed. "They must still be in the temple."

"Oh!" Zelda clutched the Eye of Truth. "They can't get through without this…but how can I get it to them?"

"You'll have to find them yourself," said the skull.

"I can't!"

"Gentle Princess, thy friends are in need," Bedelia told her in a grave voice. "Thy self may be their only salvation."

"I can't go by myself. I can't even fight! I know a little magic, but…"

"Friend, go with her," Bedelia said to the skull.

"Me?" it demanded. "What am I gonna do? I don't even have arms! Or legs!"

"Lend thy moral support."

"Why don't _you _do it?"

"Thou hast actually been in the inner reaches of the Temple, once."

"Yeah, and I met my death there!"

"That hardly matters now."

"Fine." The skull set its jaw. "I'll come with you, but you have to carry me."

Zelda picked it up. "Thank you for coming with me." It merely grunted. "What should I call you? Don't you have a name?"

"I don't remember," the skull said shortly.

Zelda tucked it under her arm. "Then I will call you Murray."

"That's a silly name."

"There is no time for this," Bedelia chided them. "Thou must go quickly, to save thy friends."

"I'm going." Zelda held the Eye of Truth in front of her in her other hand. "We didn't go far…they shouldn't be hard to find."

BREAK

Link and Ganondorf stepped through another door, their shoulders starting to ache from keeping their swords drawn. The room appeared empty; then they heard a click and a whirr and the loud sound of something grinding on a hard surface. They had just enough time to glance at the spiked walls hurtling toward them, then duck back into the door they came through.

"This," Ganondorf said as they caught their breath, "is irritating."

"There has to be another way out," Link said as he rose to his feet and peered around a corner. They had been walking around a maze for at least an hour, and hadn't yet seen any progress.

"Curse this place," Ganondorf muttered as he straightened his sore back. "Curse the damned fools who built it. Curse the madmen who drove them to it."

He heard Link yelp and turned round the corner to see the boy battling with a gnarled hand just like the one that had snatched Zelda. This one ran around on the floor like a spider, pausing here and there to make a snatch at the boy.

"Let it catch you," Ganondorf suggested halfheartedly. "Maybe it'll bring you to wherever Zelda is."

"No way!" Link slashed at it. "If you like that idea, do it yourself!" He sliced the hand once, twice, three times. It split into pieces and fell…then transformed into three more tiny hands!

Ganondorf drew his own sword. "Well, now it should be easy enough to…whoa!" He reached out with his other hand and pulled off one of the creatures that had fastened itself around Link's neck. It leaped back as if by a magnetic pull. Another one wrapped itself around Ganondorf's neck and the two of them stood spluttering for a moment, faces turning blue. Finally Ganondorf summoned a ball of fire and charred the monster hand, freeing himself as well as Link. "I don't know what's worse," he grumbled, "the big ones or little ones."

"As much as I hate to say it," Link said as he panted, red welts across his neck, "I think we should run when we see these coming."

Ganondorf grunted. "No point in worrying about a think like pride when your life is at stake, I suppose," he said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Not just ours. Zelda's too."

"Well, we'd best get going, then."

BREAK

"Okay, okay…stop, wait…now! Wait, stop! Okay…"

"Murray, please, you're making me nervous," Zelda said as she scampered past the falling blades. She held up the Eye and scanned the walls, ceiling, and floor. Spying a hidden hole, she carefully edged around it.

A Keese flew down from its perch, flapping in her face. Zelda shrieked and instinctively tossed one of the objects in her hands towards it. The skull smacked against the bat, knocking it out. "Don't throw me, please," Murray said with mock politeness. "I crack easily."

"Sorry." She picked him up and inched her way slowly down the corridor, suddenly stopping short. "Oh…there's a Stalfos ahead of us…and I've got nothing to fight it except…"

"_Do not_ toss me again," Murray said severely. "Just keep moving forward. I'll take care of it." They walked forward and sure enough, the old pile of bones raised itself off the floor again, its rusted and pitted sword drawn.

"Hey, you! Outta the way!" Murray snapped. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, bone-brain!" he continued when the Stalfos merely stared at them. Zelda could not be sure this was helping. "You're too ugly even for a dog to chew on! Scram, you marrow-less, chipped-tooth charlatan's prop!"

Zelda scampered past it as it grunted in confusion. "Stupid things, best way to fight 'em is to confuse 'em," Murry said in satisfaction.

"Oh!" Zelda cried in dismay as she entered the room where she had been snatched. "They're gone!"

"Eh? They just left?"

"They might have tried to go looking for me…they're not dead, I can sense it." Zelda held up the Eye and noticed several platforms that she had not seen before. "Maybe they crossed the pit on those. But how do we get over there?"

Murray frowned at the chasm. "Ever play hopscotch?"

"No…"

"Well, no time like the present to learn…"

Link eyed the X-shaped cross of wood, bloodstains soaked into the grain and chains hanging down from the ends. More blood was caked on the ground. "How long ago do you think this was used?" he asked.

"Don't know," Ganondorf said as he poured over the map they had found. "These places have a way of stopping time within them - there's no way to tell."

Link could feel a strange disquiet washing over him. "Hyrule's not had a peaceful history, has it?"

"Neither has your own country."

"I get the feeling that it could be a scary place long before your ancestor showed up."

"It was." Ganondorf folded the map back up and gestured for the boy to follow him. "When you have something as powerful as the Triforce to guard, you can bet there will be people who will try anything to get it."

"It seems sad," Link said slowly, "that many of these people were probably taken away without their families ever knowing, and their fate is lost to time."

"You're a creepy kid, you know that? What kind of boy ruminates on such things?"

"What kind of boy fights in such places?"

"Touché. But wasn't your upbringing hard? You lost your parents to war, didn't you? And your home as well."

Link sighed. "We fought over land…land means food, to grow and to graze cattle. If you starve a dog, it will bite you." He glanced around at the bloodstained walls. "Hyrule seems like it was always a bountiful place…why fight over what you already have? Why did your ancestor take it?"

"Survival doesn't always mean just food," Ganondorf told him. "The Gerudo were not well liked by the other people of the time. Quarrels are normal, I suppose, but every once in a while you get someone in power - like the Hylian King of the time - who doesn't want to play nice. Or at least that's how my people tell it. The official Royal Archives probably say something different."

Link stopped for a moment. "Ganondorf?"

"What, boy? More walk, less talk."

"Will you stay on our side?"

The big man sighed. "_I _will," he answered. "Unfortunately, I can't speak for my descendants."

BREAK

Zelda navigated her way slowly down the ladder, Murray safely tucked into the rucksack. She froze as she heard the familiar clicking sound of one of the Skulltulla spiders. The creature crawled down the wall, pincers snapping as it neared its prey.

"OW!" Murray cried as he smashed into it. As both he and the spider fell toward the ground, Zelda caught him by one of his eye sockets. "I told you not to throw me anymore!"

"I'm sorry," Zelda said, shaking slightly from both fear and exertion. "I couldn't think of anything else."

"Well, be careful. If you knock my jaw off I'll lose the ability to talk. I don't want to be just another skull lying on the floor!"

"Is someone there?" a young boy's voice called from the side of the room they had just entered.

"Link!" Zelda cried. "Link, I'm here!"

She saw him run up to the platform where she stood. "You're all right!" he exclaimed. "How on earth did you get here by yourself?"

"She's not by herself," Murray said.

"I see you brought that chatterbox with you," Ganondorf said as he appeared next to them. "Does it know how to get to the middle of the temple?"

"From what I remember, you can take the boat," Murray said.

"Boat?"

"Yeah, boat. See over there?"

They squinted in the dull half-light, and could faintly see the enormous outline of a ship in the wide chamber. "What on earth is a ship doing here?" Ganondorf demanded.

Zelda swallowed. "In the stories Impa told me, she said that a great ship carried the dead to the underworld."

"Lovely. Then it fits right in with the rest of the décor."

They climbed aboard, but the boat did not move, even though they could see a small stream of water rushing under it. It had no anchor; magic held it in place.

"Well, skull," Ganondorf said, "You know any magic spells to set this thing in motion?"

Murray nodded toward a worn, nearly flat tile of metal, on which one could barely see the outline of the Royal Seal. "If I remember correctly, you had to play music here to make it go."

"Well, we don't have any musical instruments," Link said. "Isn't there another way?"

"Maybe we could sing," Zelda suggested.

"Okay…but what?"

"I don't sing," Ganondorf grunted, but they ignored him.

Link whistled several tunes; Zelda tried a number of children's songs; with some pressing from the others, Ganondorf attempted some of his people's fireside chants and ballads about chivalrous thieves. Murray tried a few ribald verses, but all he succeeded in was turning the children's faces red.

"There's one more song I know," Zelda said quietly as the others frowned in frustration. "But Impa told me never to sing it unless I was in a desperate position."

"We're in a torture chamber, standing on the boat of the underworld," Ganondorf reminded her. "Although I'll probably regret saying this, it doesn't get much more desperate than that."

With more urging from Link, Zelda hummed a short, low tune. Suddenly the boat cracked to life, shuddering in the water, the huge bells on its sides making a hollow tinkling as they began to move down the stream. All four watched and waited as the boat pushed them further and deeper into the darkness of the shadows.


	15. Of Kings and Swords

The boat rose and fell smoothly through the dim light, and had it been anywhere else, the ship and its tinkling bells might have been relaxing. The man and the boy stood with weapons drawn, and for good reason; they had not gone very far before two more Stalfos dropped from the ceiling and charged them.

"Hey, you fleshless pile of garbage!" Murray snapped at the nearest one.

"What…is…it…doing?" Ganondorf demanded of the talking skull, between swipes of his sword.

"Confusing them…it worked last time…" Zelda said, but the words died in her throat as the eyeless sockets in their skulls glowed red. "Uh oh…I think you made them mad…"

Her shriek echoed throughout the chamber, adding to the ring of swords, as one of them charged her. Link scurried after it and drove his sword into the creature's hip bone, crippling it.

They all suddenly felt an odd feeling, like the bottom had dropped out of their stomachs. "The ship's sinking!" Zelda exclaimed.

"There, a platform!" Link shouted, pointing, dodging under the Stalfos's slash. "Quick, jump!"

All three leaped forward, Ganondorf steadying Zelda as she had her arms wrapped around Murray. They all watched with a stunned silence as the ship sank without a sound, down into a dark abyss, the two Stalfos still aboard.

Murray finally broke the silence. "Well, good riddance," he said. "Look around; we're here."

They turned to see a huge door on the other side of the room, a large fallen pillar bridging another wide gap between them and their destination. With some effort, each of them picked their way over the pillar, holding their breath a little as it nudged back and forth slightly with Ganondorf's weight.

Link tried to open it, but could not. "It's locked," he announced. "And I don't see any keyhole."

"You don't need a key; it's locked by a password," said Murray. "Open sesame!"

To their surprise, the door opened.

Ganondorf shut his open mouth, then turned to Murray with a scowl. "That's a stupid password."

"Hey, it's a great password - no one would ever guess that's what it really is."

"Wait a minute," Link cut in. "How could we have gotten in if we didn't have you with us?"

Murray thought. "I've no idea. Lucky I decided to come along, huh?"

"Indeed," Ganondorf grumbled.

* * *

The chamber, like many of the ones they had seen, was enormous, dimly lit, and apparently empty. Of course, they had been doing this far too long to trust this room not to hide some hidden danger. In fact, as they crept forward, they all waited expectantly for something to appear.

It didn't take long. Before they had gone fifteen paces, a bright light nearly blinded them, and in the middle of the room a giant purple fireball flamed to life. The flaming ball took the shape of a great, slavering, fanged monster, glaring down at them all with eyes of hellfire. It let forth a great roar that nearly split their eardrums, then shouted in a voice that seemed to shake the whole room:

"_**Who dares enter the sacred chamber of the Spirit of Shadow? I am the Darkness that walks beside the graveyard tombs, that steals the breath from the sick, that chills the heart of the bravest hero! I am Death, Pestilence, and War! I am the Nightmare of the Goddesses, the antithesis of Light, the Doom that all mortals fear!"**_

"I know that voice," Murray muttered, his teeth clacking slightly as Zelda trembled around him.

"I am Ganondorf of the Gerudo," the big man shouted with equal challenge, but his voice seemed swallowed up by the darkness. "I am the descendant of the Evil King. I fear no shadows!"

"I am Link, the descendant of the Hyrulean Hero," the boy piped up, his voice small and thin in comparison. "I…uhhh…eat shadows for breakfast!"

Ganondorf gave him a disapproving scowl, but Link made Zelda smile and she managed a soft, thin introduction of her own. "I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. All on these lands are subject to me, shadow."

"_**Fools! Go back! Triforce Bearers you may be, but this is Dark Magic far beyond even your comprehension! If you wish to live, turn back, for in all my ages I have never seen defeat!"**_

"_Now_ I remember that voice! _You disgusting piece of filth!_"

All heads turned to Murray, their eyes wide with shock. "Yeah, you heard me!" Murray let forth a blast of rage toward the gigantic floating monster. "You erased my memory _again, _didn't you? Admit it, you half-bit charlatan!"

The huge fireball disappeared in a puff of smoke, and below it a wizened old man appeared. "Oh, good heavens, Milton," the old man said, shaking his head. "My, you always could spoil a party."

"Party my arse! You old fool, you always did have a twisted concept of fun."

"Now, Milton…is that any way to speak to your King?"

"King!" Murray sputtered. "I'll give you King, you…" Here he degenerated into a series of vulgarities that made the two younger ones' ears burn.

Ganondorf turned to the old man. "Excuse me," he said in a voice that did not seek any kind of excuse, "but who are you, and what is going on here?"

"Ah, forgive me. It's been so long since I've spoken to the living." He gave them a small bow, really only a slight nod of the head. "I am King Linnaeus Daphnes Hyrule the Third."

Zelda drew in her breath. "That's going back a long time," she said more to herself than anyone else. "Wasn't your grandfather the one who built the Temple of Time?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, it was he who built the gateway to the Sacred Realm, a Temple of Temples to keep the Triforce out of evil hands."

"So…" Link frowned up at King Linnaeus. "What are you doing here, of all places?"

"Here? Why, I built this place." He swept his arm across the room with a proud flourish. "I built the Shadow Temple, and I was the one who started the partnership between the Shekiah and the Royal Family."

"I'm sorry that your Temple has fallen so far into darkness," Zelda said meekly. "I'm sure it was once a beautiful place."

Murray made a series of spluttering sounds, remarkable because he had neither tongue nor lips. "Beautiful! This dungheap was always like this. Linnaeus built it this way…as the torture chamber from Hell."

Zelda turned pale; Link and Ganondorf regarded the old man with looks of pure disgust. "Oh, now, don't judge," said the former King. "You don't know what times were like back then, the need for a strong hand on the throne…"

"Gee, you think you might have gone a little overboard? Just a bit?" said Murray, his voice a study in sarcasm.

The King sighed, and for just a moment they saw a flash of strain and malice in the kindly old face. "Well, the Temple probably didn't need as many traps as it has, but Hyrule has certainly benefited from its pact with the Shekiah." He straightened, as well as he could, and looked the Triforce Bearers in the eyes. "In life, I was a cruel King, a sadist, a torturer. But there was a grain of virtue in me, and that was the quest to ensure the Triforce did not fall into evil hands. That is the burden of the Royal Family, and some handle it better than others."

He turned to Zelda. "The man who has taken the throne from your father is not evil; he is merely a coward. Guarding the Triforce is too much for him; he believes that by burying it in ignorance, he can prevent the inevitable from happening. But the Triforce is the lifeblood of Hyrule; eventually the Triforce must be cared for, or it will wither and die, and Hyrule along with it. The Goddesses gave us this gift for a reason. It is a hard burden to bear, but we cannot live without it."

Zelda dug into her pack and retrieved one of the last two medallions. "Will this help?"

"Ah, the Shadow Medallion." As he took it from her, he said, "It is far too late to help me, but I believe I can help you." Shuffling over to the altar, he said, "Your grandmother had the gift of Wisdom, and she knew something would go terribly wrong soon after her life ended. Therefore, she had this brought here secretly, and a replica made to take its place in the Temple of Time."

Linnaeus placed the medallion on the altar. It glowed deep purple for a moment, then both medallion and altar sank into the ground. The bright light from below nearly blinded them in that dark place, but as they squinted through the glare they could see something rising up to take the altar's place.

Rubbing his eyes, Link could see the dull glint of light on a blade. Zelda made a small sound of surprise. "The Master Sword is here?"

Link stepped forward to claim his birthright, grasping the odd purplish hilt. But he stepped back, frowning. "It's too big. I don't think I can use it."

The King nodded meditatively. "Yes, your ancestor could only wield it after he had grown seven years and several more inches. But we have no time to put you in a seven- or even year-long sleep." He turned to Ganondorf. "All three of you have vital roles to play…but in this lifetime, it will be you who wields the sword."

Ganondorf stared at him, incredulous. "Me? I doubt I can even touch the thing."

Linnaeus smiled slightly. "Ah, afraid that you are tainted by your ancestor's blood? Contrary to what you may have heard, the sin of the father is not necessarily the burden of the son. If you truly believe that your ancestor's ghost rules your destiny, then you can turn back and try to win this fight without the essential tools. But that would be a bit foolish not to even try, don't you think?"

Ganondorf said nothing for a few moments. "You speak the truth," he said at last, and reached out for the hilt of the sword.

He pulled it with ease from the stone in which it had been thrust, hefted it high in the air, swung a few passes in front of him and to the side. The grace and quality of the weapon took him aback. It was finer than anything his people had ever made, anything that had ever come out of the Goron's forges. Older than either the Evil King or the Hero, who had made it?

"How did…" he began to say, then realized that he, Link, and Zelda were standing outside the Temple, back in the graveyard. The daytime sun flashed on the naked blade in his hand.

Zelda looked down at her hands and made a sad little sigh. "Oh…I thought I'd be able to keep Murray."


	16. Iconoclasm

Ganondorf frowned down at his ancestor's bane in his hands. "No sense stalling any further," he said at last. "If this is what we need to get the final sigil to the Temple of Time, so be it."

"How are we going to even get close?" Link demanded. "I'm sure it's well guarded…and while Zelda and I could probably sneak in somehow, you're kind of hard to miss."

Zelda stared down at the ground, thinking hard. "Unlike many of our temples, the Temple of Time only has the one entrance. It was built that way for security reasons. And…we have to think about how far we need to go with the sigil. The great doors that were the gates to the Sacred Realm are sealed forever." She glanced up at the other two. "That is one thing I remember my uncle saying to the court. I heard it from my attendant. My uncle melted down the gold settings that held the Spiritual Stones, and had the gems themselves thrown into Death Mountain."

Sheathing the sword, Ganondorf said, "I don't think the Goddesses would have given us an impossible task. Difficult and dangerous, yes, but not impossible. Perhaps the answer will be revealed to us once we finally enter the Temple."

Suddenly he slapped his hand against his other forearm, as if swatting an insect. With a grunt of surprise, he pulled a thin needle from the flesh. "What on earth…?"

"There!" Link pointed to a vanishing shadow that only his quick eyes had caught. "We're being attacked!"

Ganondorf snarled as searing pain lanced through the wound. He recognized the feel of venom and clenched his hand, the Triforce mark glowing bright. The poison vaporized, and the wound closed. He and Link stood on either side of Zelda, weapons drawn.

"Who's there?" Link bellowed in his small child's voice. "Show yourselves!"

No answer. Yet all three could sense an advance upon them, unseen shapes moving closer at high speed. With a squeak of fear and surprise, Zelda disappeared.

With a yell of frustration, Ganondorf set the grass aflame in a ring of blue fire. In the midst of the flames Zelda appeared, shocked but unhurt. Link reached out and took her hand , pulling her back towards them, feeling no heat at all. But the fire must have injured their attackers, for he smelled burning flesh and hair.

This time Zelda called out to their attackers. "Who sent you? Are you in the employ of my uncle? We are on a holy quest. If you answer to the Golden Goddesses, stand down!"

To their surprise, six people suddenly appeared inside the ring of blue flame. Each wore identical clothing, tightly woven blue fabric with an outer layer of white. Their faces were wrapped in white rags, so that only their red eyes peered out from beneath their silver hair. A crimson crest of an open eye had been painted on each chest.

"They're…they're Shekiah," Zelda sputtered. "But…I thought they were all dead!"

The six Shekiah kneeled before her. "Forgive us, Princess," said the one closest to her. "We thought you were in danger."

"Why do you come now?" Link demanded. "Why not years ago, when Zelda's uncle began purging the Triforce from the world?"

They stood. "We are tasked with protecting the Triforce as well as the Royal Family," said the one who had spoken earlier. "Years ago, the Triforce passed out of Hyrule. Our ancestors instructed us to depart until it returned. We enchanted the plinth of the Master Sword so that we would know when it was drawn."

"You contradict yourself," Ganondorf said, arms crossed. "Your mission was to protect the royal family, yet you allowed this usurper to take the throne?"

"You have no right to speak!" One of them shouted. They could see swaths of red flesh where the blue fire had burned his arms. "What are you, the Lord of Darkness, doing with that holy relic?"

"Peace!" the first Shekiah called out. He stepped forward. "My name is Kuro. Our predecessors told us that years ago, the Triforce Bearers embarked on a mission outside of Hyrule. With the Golden Power gone so long, much of the magical force that sustains Hyrule began to disappear. The people began to turn against the Goddesses, feeling that they had been forsaken.

"Popular sentiment struck out against all symbols of the Golden Goddesses. Temples were abandoned, relics were destroyed, legends were stored away and forgotten. The benign forces suffered mere neglect; the shadowy side of magic was despised. We were never an abundant race, and so we fled the country to escape the people's hatred and fear. But we were told that when the Hero returned, he would claim the Master Sword and we would be needed again."

"You are not the Hero," snarled the Shekiah that had yelled at Ganondorf before.

He frowned. "I neither stole nor requested this weapon," Ganondorf shot back. "The Bearer of Courage is too young to wield it. The fact that he does not have it does not diminish his skill, nor does it improve mine." He held the sword at a horizontal angle, so they could get a good look at the hand that gripped the hilt. "The fact that it does not burn merely means that I house no malice." He glared at the Shekiah who had spoken out of turn. "Do you doubt the power of your own relics?"

Kuro took a small golden bow from his shoulder. "We have other weapons wielded by the Hero, which we have kept in anticipation of his return." He bent down and offered it to Link, who drew one of his own arrows to test it. "No need," Kuro said, raising his hand to stop him. "This bow is used to wield Light Arrows; they do not require a physical host."

Link gave him a puzzled look, then turned and drew the bow, aiming away from the others. A bright line of light dazzled their eyes for a moment, then leaped toward the hills like a lightning bolt when Link released the bow. "A bow that doesn't need arrows!" he exclaimed, more interested in its practicality than its magical properties. He thanked Kuro and put it over his own shoulder.

"Your Highness," said Kuro, kneeling before Zelda. "What is the nature of your holy quest, and how can we assist you?"

Zelda reached into her pack and brought out the Light Medallion. "We need to get this into the Temple of Time," she said. "But I don't think we can even get into the castle town without being confronted by my uncle's soldiers."

"Then we will escort you," Kuro stated with finality. "We will guide you through the shadows, so that even the Bearer of Power is hidden from mortal eyes."

"Kuro!" the other Shekiah who had spoken snarled. "Even if the heart of the Bearer of Power is pure enough to hold the Master Sword, that doesn't mean he won't be tempted in the Sacred Realm."

"What are you talking about?" Ganondorf demanded. "The Sacred Realm is closed to us; the keys are gone."

"Calm yourself, Ino," Kuro said to the Shekiah. He turned to the Three Bearers. "I will admit that we are not entirely sure what will happen once we enter the Temple. But the texts left behind by our ancestors, and the last Bearer of Wisdom, seem to indicate that your purpose is to bring the Triforce back together in the Sacred Realm."

"Power by nature is a corrupting force," Ino said to Ganondorf. "Truth be told, any of us risk being tempted to take the Triforce for our own, once it is reunited and regains its full power. But you are at a special risk, even if you have none of the traits of your ancestor."

"I don't see how this is a danger if we can't even get in the doors," Ganondorf countered.

"Anything can happen," Zelda piped up. "Even the Shekiah don't know for sure…Wisdom itself never gives all the answers."

"Well, what else is there to do?" Link demanded. "We might as well try, regardless of the dangers. Otherwise this whole quest was for nothing."

Ganondorf sheathed the Master Sword and turned to Kuro. "Well, then, let's stop wasting time."

* * *

They moved under cover of darkness, keeping to the edges of Hyrule Field. Two Shekiah walked ahead of the Bearers, two behind, and one on each side. To the left of Link, Kuro carried Zelda. They crouched in the undergrowth as the first two advanced toward the castle, signaling to the others are the guards on the ramparts turned their backs for the briefest of moments.

Pressed up against the cold stone of the castle walls and trying to quiet his breath, Link asked, "What now?"

Ino motioned for silence. He traced his hand over the mortar keeping one of the blocks in place, and the mortar disappeared. He and another Shekiah pushed against the stone, slowly inching it inward. Once it was all the way through, they crawled through and gestured for the others to follow. Link crawled through easily, and Zelda followed. They waited.

"Hurry up!" Link hissed through the opening.

"I'm coming," Ganondorf growled. "Give me a moment".

A long pause followed. "You're stuck, aren't you?"

"This hole is too small!" Ganondorf snapped, as softly as he could. "Shekiah have Hylian frames, they're small enough to…nnnnggghhh!"

He emerged from the small hole, wet and with a glowering face. The two children tried not to laugh as the other Shekiah explained that they had forced him through with water from the moat.

"Keep quiet," Kuro urged, pointing upward. One of the guards stood at the end of the wall above, peering out over the town's courtyard beyond them. They did not move until he did, softly slinking forward after he retreated.

It was the witching hour, and even the bars were closed. A few stray cats wandered the streets, but the only other sign of life was the still, watchful silhouettes of the guards. The Shekiah led them past the main square, toward the grassy knoll where the Temple of Time loomed in near-darkness.

Suddenly Ino threw out his arm, stopping the others in their tracks. He pointed silently to the motley collection of tombstones that stood in front. The Three strained their eyes, and after a few minutes, they could see here and there a shadow move from one to the other.

"What is it?" Ganondorf demanded.

"There is a significant force there," Kuro said. "It seems the King has anticipated your next move."

"How is that possible?" Link demanded. "They haven't been able to find us this whole time."

"They probably figured we would come to the Temple at some point," Zelda breathed. "It is the center of the Triforce's power. Who knows how long they have been waiting here?"

"There's someone nearby," Ino hissed. "An assassin of some kind, hired by the King. I can't pin down his location - he's using some kind of magic to dampen my sight."

"I'll find him," Ganondorf volunteered, staring out into the night. Link felt Zelda clutch at his tunic, and his hair stood on end, waiting for the whistle of an arrow or the swish of a blade.

Suddenly they heard a muted grunt, and the Master Sword glinted slightly in the gloom. Link and Zelda heard the sound of something heavy and soft hitting the ground just behind them. They turned to see Ganondorf standing with the blade stained crimson. "Got him," he assured them.

Link nodded, relieved, just as a piercing scream sliced through the air.

They all turned to stare at Zelda, who stood transfixed, eyes wide and mouth open. It was she who had screamed, who continued to scream as the guards at the Temple snapped to attention. The mark on her hand glowed bright.

"What did I do?" Ganondorf demanded in an almost panicked voice. "She's never reacted this way before!"

"Those were monsters we killed before - this was a man, one of her own people!" Link yelled back at him.

"He was going to kill us! What choice did I have?"

"Run, you fools!" Kuro shouted. "We'll hold them off as long as we can!"

Ganondorf reached out to pick up Zelda, but she bit him. Bewildered and annoyed, he barked at Link, "Get her out of here! I'll catch up to you later!"

Link grabbed the still-screaming Princess by the hand and dragged her through the streets, turning down back alleys as she gasped for breath. After a few minutes of silence, she suddenly tugged Link to a stop. "Wait, where are we going? Where are the Shekiah and Ganondorf?"

He stared at her, puzzled. "What, you don't remember? You started screaming and the guards jumped us…"

"That…" Zelda clutched at her head. "That was a vision…no, a memory…a memory of a past life…" She turned back the way they came. "We have to help them! I…" Suddenly she grasped at her face and fell to her knees.

"Zelda, what's wrong?" Link shook her shoulder. "What is it?"

"It…I'm not used to it…I can't control it…" Zelda scratched the mark on her hand with her tiny nails. "I saw him with the sword and the blood, and the memories came unbidden…"

"Come on, we have to hide. Ganondorf can handle himself! We'll find him later!"

"But the Shekiah - "

"It's you they're trying to protect! Come on!" He tugged her to her feet and they raced through the black streets of the castle town.

* * *

Kuro fell as a sharp blade pierced his back. He took one startled look at the man who had stabbed him before his eyes rolled back in his head.

"Good work, Ino," the captain of the guard said as they approached the dead Shekiah. The other four Shekiah stood at attention behind Ino. On the ground lay the Gerudo King, a trickle of blood running from one ear. "The King has authorized me to pardon you, now that you have assisted us." His eyes hardened. "But if the Shekiah ever take up the dark arts again, you will meet the same fate. Understand?"

Ino kicked the body of his dead brother. "I have had enough of shadows and false prophecies," he said. "As long as your army has a place for us, we have no need to follow the ways of our ancestors."

The captain bent down for a closer look at the Gerudo King. "So this is the cause of all the trouble, eh?" He nudged Ganondorf's marked hand with his foot. "He's got the curse mark, all right. Well, the King knows how to destroy old magic. All right, men, take him to the dungeons!"

"What about this, sir?" one of the men asked, bending down to pick up the Master Sword. He yelped in pain as the hilt burned his hand.

"Don't touch the cursed weapon!" the captain ordered. "Fetch the casket - we will use it to carry the sword to Death Mountain, and dispose of it forever."


	17. Light in a Dark Hour

Link and Zelda huddled against the rain barrel in the alley as the guards raced down the lane past them. As the clink of metal and the sound of footsteps dimmed, the two children stood and ran in the opposite direction, unwilling to stay in the same place for too long.

"Stay here," Link breathed, then shimmied up the side of a rain spout to catch a glimpse of the main square. He stared out for a few moments, then turned down to Zelda and shook his head. Picking his way down, he said, "Ganondorf is nowhere to be seen. Are you sure you can feel him nearby?"

Zelda rubbed her marked hand. "All I know is that the further we move away from the castle, the less I can sense his presence."

Link glanced over in the direction of the castle. "You don't think…they took him prisoner, do you?"

Zelda turned to him, shocked. "Ganondorf? Is that even possible?"

He nodded. "I met him in the dungeons. We were both there when we met you, remember?"

"I do…I had forgotten." She thought for a while, a little crease forming in the middle of her forehead. "He escaped once…I'm sure he can do it again. But…we can't just sit here and wait for him. What should we do?"

"We can't risk getting caught ourselves. Maybe…maybe we can try to sneak into the Temple of Time. Once we replace the Light Sigil, maybe the guardian there can help us."

"Good idea…but how do we get in? There are even more guards than before. And they know we're here, and what we look like."

Link turned to her with an appraising look. "Then we'll just have to change what we look like."

Before she could react, Link grabbed her long golden hair and drew his sword. With one swipe he cut it short. He tossed it aside, but she picked it up. "Look, I'm sorry, but if you don't want them to find us…"

"No, no, I'm not upset. I just thought of something else." She stuffed it into the pack. "What next?"

Link crept into a small courtyard behind one of the larger homes and swiftly collected an armful of walnuts. He cracked them open, and both he and Zelda rubbed the hulls into their hair until it turned from blonde to brunette. They purloined boys' clothes for the both of them and threw their own into a fetid rubbish pile at the far end of the town, save for a few scraps of Zelda's dress.

Zelda led him into the back of a butcher shop, where she soaked both the scraps of fabric and the hair in cucco blood. Then she tossed both to a pack of stray dogs that hung around the shop, their tongues lolling out their mouths. After washing her bloodied hands in a barrel of rainwater, she and Link headed back toward the main square.

"Should we run?" Link asked, eyeing the guards that stood at every corner.

"No! Walk," she whispered. "If we run, they'll get suspicious." She took Link's hand and they walked at a casual pace down the street. The first guard ignored them, the second nodded in greeting. The two children held their breath as the third stepped in front of them. "Hello, kids. The square's off limits for anyone who doesn't have business there. You'll have to turn around and go home."

"But we do have business there," Link insisted, thinking quickly. "Our mother asked us to go out and get some vegetables for dinner."

Zelda made a face for extra effect. "I hate vegetables! But we have to go."

"Yeah, mom'll give us both a whipping if we don't come back with some food!"

The guard watched them suspiciously, then asked, "Did she give you money?"

Link looked to Zelda, who reached into her pack for a blue rupee, the remainder of a handful she had taken with her when she left the tower. "See?"

The guard stepped to the side and waved them forward. "All right, go ahead. Don't dawdle."

Just then a dog ran past them, accompanied by the shrieks of shouts of the townspeople. "Stop that dog! Catch it!"

Both children could see the shine of golden hair in its mouth as it streaked by. As a crowd gathered around the dog, and guards gathered around the crowd, Link and Zelda sped off toward the Temple of Time.

* * *

Ganondorf groaned as he rolled over, raising one hand to his head as pain lanced through his skull. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but blurry darkness. As his vision began to clear, he caught sight of the light of a torch on a far wall. In between him and the torch were thick, solid iron bars.

He cursed, the past events tumbling back into his memory. He shouldn't have hesitated, he thought to himself. After the Princess had stared at him as if he were a demon, he had restrained himself from killing any more of her people. But he had been overpowered. He distinctly remembered the Shekiah turning on him in the last few moments.

Restraint didn't pay off, he decided. Standing up, he examined his small cell. He was not so worried about himself, but he wondered where the other two were, and if they had been captured as well. There was no breath of life from any body except his own, not even a guard or another prisoner. He was alone in that dark place.

First things first. Ganondorf balled his marked hand into a fist, enjoying the rush of power that flashed through him as he did. He reached out with both hands and grabbed the bars.

A terrible onslaught of pain ripped through his body like an electric current, and at first he could not even pull himself away from the bars, his hands involuntarily clenched around them. Finally wrenching himself free, he gasped for breath as he examined the anti-magic wards that had been woven there.

Strange, he thought. Didn't Zelda's uncle aim to purge magic from the world? Who could cast something so strong that even I cannot break it? He looked down at the mark on his hand. Ganondorf could feel that he was only using a tiny fraction of the Triforce of Power, yet he seemed to be having trouble harnessing more of the relic. Something in the back of his mind stopped him whenever he tried to gather more power to him.

Ganondorf ran his hands along the walls, searching for a weak spot in either the magic wards or the stone itself. As he did so, he heard the opening and closing of a door, and the sound of footsteps that ran loud in the dark gloom. He stood to face his visitor.

The same elegant robes, the same golden crown. But now that he was closer, Ganondorf could see more of the man's face. Thin, middle-aged, small brush-strokes of hair for a mustache. Almost painfully boring, it appeared to harbor no malice. Yet something odd in the blue-gray eyes sent shivers down his spine.

Ganondorf greeted his visitor with a wicked smile. "I didn't know the usurper king would raise his royal ass off his throne just to pay a visit to the dungeons."

The king's eyes narrowed, but betrayed no other sense of emotion. "I'm glad, for your sake, that you have a sense of humor. Your execution takes place in the next three hours."

Ganondorf brandished his Triforce piece with a snort. "Do you really think you can sever the soul of the Bearer of Power?"

"Ah, by all means, then, leave," said the king with a malicious smile. "I mustn't keep such an important person from his business."

Scowling, Ganondorf demanded, "Where did you manage to find a weaver of magic wards, if your rule involves purging it from the land?"

The king stared at him with an impassive face. "Just because no one sees them, does not mean they are not here. Like the Princess, for example."

Ganondorf snarled. "You filthy swine, how are you any better than my ancestors?"

"Idiot. All of the strife and hardship that Hyrule suffers, comes from that wretched triangle you hold in your hand. It is not just you, but the other two as well, that must die."

"The people of Hyrule will not consent to you killing their Princess."

"If she bears the unholy mark, they will." He smiled slightly. "The ancient lore of the Triforce is gone. As far as the people of Hyrule are concerned, she is marked with a curse that must be destroyed."

Clenching his fist, Ganondorf said, "I won't allow that to happen." He began to draw Power into himself, bypassing the old barrier and reaching for more.

"If you insist," the king said passively as magical might swirled around both of them. "If you wish to follow your ancestor's path, go right ahead."

"What are you talking about?"

The usurper king gave him a lopsided grin. "Power corrupts, my friend. Even the kind of Power granted by a Golden Goddess. You may be doing this to help your friends now, but it won't be long before you forget your original purpose." He stepped forward. "Your ancestor had the same goal," he shouted over the hissing rise of magic. "He wanted to save the Gerudo from extinction, to secure a place for them in Hyrule. So he attempted to steal our magic and then everything went wrong. Do you think you have the strength of mind required, King of Evil?"

Suddenly Ganondorf let go, the magic draining out of him. The king laughed. "See, you could feel yourself beginning to fail, couldn't you? At least this time you have the sense to stop before disaster strikes." He dropped his voice to a soothing tone. "Now, let us help you. We can make it all just go away."

"What do you intend to do?"

"Kill you and the other two, slice apart the corpses so that the spirits cannot return to their hosts, and wish for the Triforce to destroy itself."

Ganondorf's eyes widened. "You speak the impossible!"

The king shook his head. "Nothing is impossible, poor man. One of my ancestors attempted it, an age upon an age ago. A pretender to the throne, who married into the royal family. He manipulated your ancestor into kidnapping the Bearer of Wisdom and confronting the Bearer of Courage. When your ancestor freed the Triforce to claim as his own, my ancestor snatched it at the last minute."

The king's placid face suddenly shifted into a mask of rage. "The Bearer of Wisdom thwarted him, upon seeing that they had been deceived. We could have left this country for a new one, but no, the Princess is always tied to the curse. It's because of that damned Triforce that this country sees so many wars. We are never attacked from beyond, only from within! The cursed relic must be destroyed!"

Ganondorf stepped back, deep disgust in his face. "Old man, you blaspheme," he said. "As foolish or cruel as my ancestor may have been, it pales at the true Evil within you."

"Your words matter not," the king replied haughtily. "The three Bearers will die, and the Triforce will be wished out of existence. Enjoy these last breaths of life, for without your precious curse, you cannot be reborn to torment us any longer." With a swirl of robes, the king turned and stomped out the door.

* * *

Ignoring the pandemonium behind them, Link scowled at the guards that still stood between them and the Temple of Time. "I don't think those are going to move."

Zelda glanced around, then pointed to a girl who watched the drama unfold back toward the direction they had come. "Her hoop…let's take it, and send it through the guard line."

"Good idea!" Link snatched it without her even noticing and pushed it through the square, whooping and hollering as if nothing entertained him more. Zelda followed behind, adding nervous giggles to his shouts. One of the guards chased them, the others watching with amused expressions, not about to hurl their full force against innocent childrens' foolishness.

The hoop landed in a patch of manicured bushes near the temple. "Stay here," the guard ordered. "I'll get it for you."

The two children waited obediently until the guard turned his back, then scrambled into the undergrowth. The other guards had long since stopped paying attention.

Link and Zelda scurried on all fours like groundhogs, from one set of bushes to another. Finally, they got near the front door, but two guards stood in front of it. "Now what?" Zelda asked.

Link thought for a few moments, then crawled under some bushes at the side, motioning for her to follow. The bushes ran the length of the side of the temple, and there was just enough space for the two of them to squeeze in between. While Zelda waited, Link hunted for a small stone and hurled it into the intricate stained-glass window. He ducked into the bushes and the two of them raced for the door as the guards ran over to investigate.

As they pushed the door shut behind them, Zelda gave Link a reproachful look. "What was I supposed to do?" Link demanded. He pointed to the altar at the far side of the temple. "Do you suppose that's where we put the sigil?"

They walked up to it and placed the sigil, but nothing happened. Suddenly the door opened and they whirled round, the two guards entering. "…Don't know why anyone would throw a rock into…Hey, you!"

Zelda snatched up the sigil and both of them ran up to the far door, but it had no handles or any other way of opening it that they could see. "What do we do?" Zelda cried out as the guards ran toward them, weapons drawn.

Link ran his hands over the cold stone door, and suddenly the mark on his hand flared to life. "Zelda! Help me push!"

She threw her tiny weight against the door, the mark on her own hand burning as she did. They opened the doors enough for each of them to squeeze through, then slammed them shut just as the guards reached them.

"How long do you think we can stay in here?" Link asked no one in particular.

"None but the Goddesses' Chosen can enter the gateway to the Sacred Realm," a low voice boomed throughout the room. They whirled round in surprise to see an old man wearing a crimson-red robe. "I am Rauru, the Sage of Light." His eyes twinkled kindly as he held out his hands. "I believe you have something for me?"

Zelda handed over the Sigil of Light. "With this, we can draw the Triforce from you and replace it where it belongs, in the Sacred Realm." He looked down at them with a frown. "But where is the Bearer of Power?"

The two children looked at each other. "We're not sure," Link said at last.

Rauru frowned. "The task cannot be completed without all three Bearers present. You must find him and bring him here."

"How do we do that?" Link demanded. "There's guards waiting for us outside!"

Holding up the sigil, Rauru said, "I can use the little magic inside this to transport you to the gates of the castle. I sense he is near there. You will have to find him yourselves."

Within the blink of an eye, the two children found themselves on the far side of the castle, near the moat but far enough away from the guards not to be seen. Zelda clutched the hem of her shirt. "I was afraid he had been captured," she said in a small voice as she turned to Link. "What do we do now?"


	18. Life Hangs in the Balance

Link scanned the hills that separated them from the castle. "We've got to find a way in and help him get out. He should have been able to escape by now…something must be wrong."

Zelda frowned. "Do you really think we can help him?"

"It might be something as simple as finding a key…not much he can do on the wrong side of a lock. Not sure what kind of lock could hold him in, though." He motioned for Zelda to follow him. "We'll have to be careful…there's guards everywhere, but…we're little. We can hide in places they can't find us."

The two of them raced down the road that led to the castle, Link pulling Zelda aside as they neared the first gate. He pointed to the tendrils of ivy snaking up one of the walls, then began climbing. She followed, slowly, and he paused now and then to help her find her next foothold. Her purloined boys' clothes made climbing much easier.

Once at the top of the rock wall, they sped across it, only taking a cursory look or two down at the guard which stood on the end facing the town. They maneuvered their way to the far end of the other side (no guards to prevent anyone from leaving the castle, after all), and climbed back down again.

Zelda tumbled into the dirt, breathing hard. Link helped her up. "You all right?"

She nodded, sweat streaking the dust across her face. "What now?"

He pointed to the hills to the side of the road. "There's guards along the road, but nobody in the grass. There's bushes tall enough to hide us."

She frowned. "How are we going to get past the gate?"

"We won't use the gate. See the water outlet, there? We can use that to get in."

"Link…that's where the water from the toilets goes."

He shrugged as she made a face. "I didn't say it would be easy."

They sprinted across the field, ducking behind one of the guards and rolling down the steep embankment to the surface water of the moat. Here Link showed Zelda how to float still in the water, and he pulled her across. They scrambled up the opposite side and disappeared into the drainage hole, which luckily held only a trickle of water. The smell, however, was not much better than usual.

They popped out near the gardens, in a drainage ditch built to carry excess rainwater out of the castle. Link pointed at one of the towers above them. "That one was yours, right?" She nodded. "The dungeons was right below it. Let's go!"

They sped across the gardens, bright flowers and colorful butterflies contrasting starkly with the two desperate, dirt-stained children's faces. Link paused for a moment to decide where to go next - a moment too long.

"You there!" One of guards called out. "Halt!"

The children doubled their efforts, the sounds of boots on the grounds multiplying as they ran. Suddenly the high-pitched whistle of arrows rent the air, and Zelda instinctively fell to her knees, covering her head. Link kept running as the arrows bounced harmlessly off the shield on his back, then halted when he realized Zelda was no longer beside him. He turned back, then stopped as one of the guards seized Zelda by the collar.

"Keep going!" she shouted after him. "Go find Ganondorf!"

He hesitated, then took off like a rabbit with three guards in hot pursuit.

"Look here, boy," said the guard that had caught her, holding tight to her wrist. "This is royal land, you can't just…oh!"

His face paled, and he gripped Zelda's wrist so hard she cried out. Three other guards ran over to them, and they too recoiled in fear.

"The curse mark!" One of them cried. "This boy…I mean girl…it can't be!"

"It must be," said another, his face grim. "You know what we must do."

"We should ask one of the advisors first," said a third. "I find it hard to believe that…"

"Do you doubt the King's word?" the other answered. They all shook their heads. "Very well, then. To the gallows with her, and quickly!"

* * *

Ganondorf glanced down at the mark on his hand. It glowed so faintly that normally he would not be able to tell, but the darkness of the cell made it stand out. He listened hard for any kind of movement; was it possible one of the children was here? Perhaps they could escape together, just as they had before. They would have to leave quickly, given what the King planned to do if they arrived…

He heard the scramble of feet, and the door burst open, Link running down the stairs two at a time. His face lit up as he saw the tall man. "I found you!" he said breathlessly, then skidded to a halt. After a brief glance around, he asked, "Where are the keys?"

"I don't…" The door crashed open again and a small knot of guards rushed down the stairs. Link drew his sword but they shoved him against the wall with their spears.

"Careful!" one of the men shouted. "Prisoner's to be kept alive till he joins the girl at the gallows!"

"What?" Ganondorf demanded. He instinctively grabbed the bars, then released them with a yell, his hands hissing from the burn of angry magic.

"Let go!" Link shouted as they pinned his arms behind him, securing a length of chain. "Ganondorf, help me!"

"I…" The huge man paused, the guard's pronouncement of Zelda at the gallows ringing in his ears, competing with the King's warning upon his visit. His hands hovered near the bars. "I can't…"

Link bit one of his captors, and he struck him, hard across the side of his face. Link fixed his gaze on Ganondorf, blood trickling down his nose. "Don't just stand there, do something!"

"That's enough, boy!" One of the guards snarled, pulling his knife. "A little bloodletting ought to calm you down long enough to get that noose around your neck."

Without thinking, Ganondorf grabbed the bars, the anti-magic wards sizzling through his skin. The guards jumped back in fear as he roared with pain, the crackle of magic and smell of lightning filling the air. For a moment he looked as if he was about to pull away; then his resolved hardened as he made his decision. The mark on his hand grew brighter as he pushed further and further, barreling over his past limit and careening into the unknown.

The guards dropped Link as a feral snarl cut through the dungeons, and the form of the man behind the bars shivered and warped in front of them. His back hunched, his teeth grew, hair sprouted from the gray-white knuckles gripping the iron door. Through the hiss of magic and guttural snarls of the creature before them, they could hear the whine of metal as it slowly bent at the will of clawed hands.

Shrieking, the guards scrambled back up the stairs, their yells punctuated by the groan of the door's hinges as they separated from their frame. A monster emerged from the cell, face disfigured with a boar's tusks and jowls, feet replaced with a demon's hooves, eyes bright with magic-fueled rage. Its roar of fury shook the dungeons as it pursued the guards with surprising speed up the stairs.

Link scrambled to his feet, sword drawn and in hot pursuit.

* * *

As they reached the town square, Zelda wondered how they could have missed the gallows. The platform stood high in the middle, the noose hanging ready and waiting. She shivered at the thought of how many of her people had met this fate at the whim of her uncle, while she had been locked away in her tower. She noted grimly that the Master Sword stood near in an open lead casket. Doubtless her uncle had planned a show of destroying anything that still carried the Triforce mark in full view of the people.

And there he stood at the top of the gallows, the man himself. Zelda's stomach churned with hatred as he fixed his mad yet strangely calm gaze upon her. Her mother was nowhere to be seen. She prayed that she had merely been locked up, not forced to face the same fate that her uncle had chosen for Zelda.

The false king raised his hands, addressing an ever-growing crowd around them. "People of Hyrule!" he called out, his voice blanketing the entire square. "For years we have lived in fear that the Cursed Ones would bring plague and misery to our fair land once again. But now the cleansing of Hyrule will reach its final stages. Behold! The cursed weapon, and one of the Three Bearers of Ill Fate!"

The guard holding Zelda raised her hand for all to see; another held up the casket containing the sword. The audience cried out in anger and fear; after recoiling briefly, they pressed in closer and chanted an ever-rising cry for blood.

"Step forward, ye fair people of Hyrule," said the king. "Once we choke the breath from this damned maiden, we will destroy the evil spirit's host, so it will never again plague this land! Bring ye your swords, your knives, your hoes! Hack apart the vessel and cleanse the land in its blood!"

Zelda struggled in the guard's arms as the crowd shoved even closer to the platform, sharp metal gleaming in the sunlight.

* * *

Link panted, out of breath, as he reached the top of the stairway and ran through the shattered door. He followed the blasted walls, ruined suits of armor, and slashed tapestries until he found himself in the courtyard again, where virtually every knight in the castle gathered in a circle around the growing monster.

Ganondorf had lost nearly all vestiges of his human self, save for some scraps of armor. One blow from his fist blasted a hole in the castle walls. A few arrows and spears quivered as they stuck in his thick hide, though they seemed not to bother him at all. He swiped at the knights, who fled before him.

Ducking under the legs of the knights, Link ran toward him. "Ganondorf, stop! We need to save Zelda!"

The hideous pig's face contorted in fury, and it slammed its hand down where Link had stood just a few moments earlier. Undaunted, Link darted forward and pulled at the giant's piglike ear. "Stop this! They're going to kill her! They're going to kill her NOW! Snap out of it!"

The great beast roared at him, foul breath spilling across the courtyard. Seeing him occupied, some of the knights fled, with the stouter-hearted attacking the monster's flank. As Ganon turned to snap at them, Link jumped upon the armor plates and gripped the coarse hairs between them. He scrambled onto Ganon's back, then jumped off again as the great creature rolled upon the ground, trying to crush him.

Losing patience, Link hit him on the snout with his little sword. Pulling at the tiny hairs over his eyes, Link shouted into the monster's face, to the consternation of the remaining guards. "Listen to me! _They're going to kill Zelda!_ We don't have time for this! Are you going to do the same thing your ancestor did? Wasn't that the whole point of this quest, to undo the damage that made the Triforce a curse mark?"

For several long moments nothing changed, the demonic eyes staring into Link's own. Then, with a flick of its head, the monster tossed Link back onto its neck. It made a loud noise, a guttural sound that Link almost did not recognize as a word. "**Where?"**

"The castle town. Hurry!" he shouted, and hung on for dear life as the monster ran through the courtyard on all fours, scrambling over the walls and bolting toward the town.

* * *

Zelda trembled uncontrollably, her hands tightly bound behind her back, as the executioner pulled the hood over her head. The small, Wisdom-controlled, rational part of her mind sneered at the irony of this gesture, as if shielding her from the bloodthirsty scene she had already witnessed would calm her at all. She felt herself being shoved roughly forward, the scratchy rope of the noose sliding against her neck. Where were Link and Ganondorf? Had they already been killed? What was going to happen now that her uncle had finally wiped away all remnants of the Goddesses' presence?

They had failed. That fact hit her harder than her own impending death. They had come so far, only to fail…

Suddenly a cry of fear rent through the air, quickly taken up by others in the crowd. She heard her uncle shout to the executioner, "Pull it! Now!" and his yell of rage as an arrow whistled just over her head. In the confusion she tripped and fell back, anticipating the choking grip of the noose around her neck; but it hung limp even as she fell to the floor.

A mighty roar filled the air, and the mob shrieked and screamed as it fled from the platform. Zelda could feel the vibration of some impossibly huge force striking the ground as it moved toward her, then stopped just short of the platform. Then the patter of small booted feet, and suddenly the hood ripped away from her eyes. Link stood before her with a grin of triumph.

But her own smile froze as she saw the gigantic monster in front of her, staring at her with maddened eyes and long, sharp teeth. "Hang on a minute," Link said as he cut her hands free. "Help me bring up the sword."

The two of them huffed and pushed as they moved the lead casket closer to the monster, which sniffed uncertainly at it. Link pulled it from its case, and with a huge effort, thrust it point down into the platform. "Here, take it!"

Zelda realized that it was Ganondorf who stood before her, in the Triforce's altered form. She motioned for him to pull the sword from the wood. "Please, take it. It will bring you back to normal!"

The creature held out one clawed hand, then recoiled. The bright blade contrasted sharply with the darkness that shrouded the man beneath the monster. "You have to do it!" Link yelled. "It's the only way for you to change back!"

It reached out again, touching one claw against the hilt. Bright energy around the sword swirled and sparked, and the creature let out a bellow of pain. Yet it drew in tighter, held the weapon closer.

The two children shielded their eyes as an impossibly bright light filled their vision. Through slits in their fingers they watched as a figure crouched by the sword, waves of darkness spilling from his shoulders as the blinding light drove it away.

Then, finally, the light ceased. They lowered their hands to see Ganondorf back in human form, holding the sword high. He turned to them with a triumphant grin, then sliced the sword clean through the pole holding up the remains of the noose.

"Enough!" a voice commanded. The three of them turned in the deserted square to see one other person among them, the false king. They recoiled as some dark miasma bubbled from his shoulders, a fell force that came from no Sacred Realm. "I've had enough of this!" he called in an unearthly voice. "Your destruction is nigh. Face your fate!"


End file.
